Zootopia: Withered Heart
by Phoenix V. Sparks
Summary: It was supposed to be a typical night on patrol, keeping Zootopia's criminals at bay, but it all changed when Nick and Judy received a report of strange erratic behavior coming from an unknown wolf juvenile, whose somehow acquired supernatural powers. Judy promises to solve the bizarre case, but gets tangled up in the pup's emotions, and past.
1. Monster

**(Brian Crain - Dream of Flying) *I don't own the song!***

* * *

"Cold, it's so cold..."

"M-Must find help."

"No-one will help me.

"Home? Where's home?"

"No... No home."

"I'm alone."

"Alone with myself."

"A-Am I a monster?"

"Oh god I feel it under my skin."

"I feel it burrowing inside my head."

"It hurts... It itches."

"So hungry... So thirsty."

"I-I need food, I need water."

...

 **"Hello."**

"W-Who are you!?"

 **"No-one but your only friend"**

"F-Friend?"

 **"Yes, a friend, who wishes to not see you digging through a dumpster."**

"Strange mammals hurt me... They did something to me."

 **"It's okay, come with me and we'll finally prove they are guilty."**

"C-Come with you?"

 **"Yes, come with me."**

"Okay, wait no... You're gonna hurt me."

"You're gonna put me away because of what I am, aren't you?"

 **"You're dangerous, you need help."**

 **"** No... No, I need to hide. Goodbye."

 **"Don't you dare run!"**

"Weapons don't solve problems, you won't take me, I won't let them use me for their dirty deeds!"

 **"Goddammit! Get back here!"**

"Stay away from me! I'm not a weapon!"

"I'm not a monster."

 **-City of Zootopia-**

 **-Central City** **Night Patrol -**

 **-10:37 PM-**

 **-Nick & Judy-**

Nick and Judy were out patrolling the streets; it was late at night, there was a slight downpour. Nick was sitting in the passager seat, drinking from a hot cup of coffee, while Judy was driving being vigilant.

"Please explain to me again why you wanted to take night shift? Nick said, as he took small sips from a cup of coffee. Nick was wearing his blue issued police uniform.

"Ugh, I told you already!" Judy yelled in fustration, who was wearing the same uniform as Nick.

"I forgot." Nick chuckled, taking another sip of his delectable cup of coffee.

"Nick for the sixteenth time, we're investigating reports of strange behavior coming an unidentified individual." Judy said.

"I say we have a savage mammal on our paws." Nick replied.

"Don't say that, we haven't had a savage mammal case since the Night Howler accident two months ago." Judy said, throwing a quick punch at Nick's shoulder.

"Hey, watch the road." Nick scowled.

"Just keep a look out, we aren't here to goof around." Judy sighed.

"C'mon Carrots, you gotta have a little fun." Nick smirked.

Judy scoffed "Not while we're on patrol, and especially not while I'm driving."

Nick rolled his eyes. "What a party-pooper." Nick whispered to himself, taking a long sip from his warm coffee.

"Look, I know you're your bored and exhausted, but we have a job to do." Judy said glancing over to Nick.

"Whatever you say, Carrots." Nick replied.

Nick looked out his window, and watched as the raindrops slid down his window, occasionally conjoining together to form one big droplet.

Nick enjoyed the rain; it somehow helped him feel a little more relaxed. Nick continued watching the little droplets slide down the window, until the cruiser passed an alleyway. Nick saw a figure continuously punching a brick wall, before the cruiser passed it.

Nick widened his eyes and quickly turned over to Judy, "Stop the car!" He yelled.

Judy stepped on the brakes; the sound of cruisers tires screeching filled the inside of the car, as it came to a complete halt. "What!?" Judy asked.

"I saw something in that alleyway just behind us." Nick replied.

Without any hesitation, Judy shifted the cruiser into reverse and reversed, until Nick yelled, "Stop!"

Nick and Judy stared into the yellow lit alleyway. "Haha, good one Nick." Judy said, as she stared into the empty alleyway.

"B-But I swear, I saw someone." Nick stuttered, dumbfounded by the unknown mammal's quick disappearance.

"Nick, this isn't the time to be joking around." Judy sighed, shifting the cruiser back into drive.

Nick continued staring into the alleyway, dazed but shook his head from his trance, and quickly exited the vehicle before Judy could continue on.

"What are you doing Nick!?" Judy yelled, as Nick jogged over to where he last saw the mammal.

"Showing you I wasn't lying." Nick replied.

Judy turned on the cruisers lights, and hazards, before exiting it with a grunt.

"This better be good!" She yelled, slamming the driver side door, "I'm freezing my tail off in this rain.

"That's why you should've packed our jackets, now come take a look at this." Nick replied as he stared at the brick wall, that belonged to an apartment complex.

"I swear Nick, if you're lying it's over betwe... Oh my god." Judy covered her mouth in shock. There, written in fresh crimson blood, were the words, " ** _Im not a monster._** "

"Who did this?" Judy said aloud.

"Must've been that mammal I saw." Nick replied, causing Judy to snap her head towards him.

"Did you get a physical description?" Judy asked, grabbing Nick by the shirt.

"No, it was too dark and blurry for me get any physical descriptions from the cruiser." Nick replied.

Judy swore under her breath, but perked her ears as she heard a bottle shatter. She saw a dark figure running down the alleyway wearing a black hoodie with the hood over his head, "After that mammal!" Judy yelled, running after the fleeing mammal.

Nick didn't hesitate and quickly chased after the unknown mammal as well.

Raindrops splashed against their faces, as the light rain turned into a heavy downpour. "ZPD! Stop running!" Judy yelled, as she tirelessly chased after the mammal.

"Stay away from me!" The mammal yelled in a male voice, as he looked around frantically for an escape route.

Judy, slowly but surely, started to catch up with the mammal, the mammal looked back only to see Judy nearing him.

The mammal began turning over trashcans to hopefully slow her down, but her training said otherwise.

Fortunately, there was a garbage truck reversing into the alleyway, effectively blocking it off.

"There's no escape!" Judy yelled after noticing the now blocked exit.

The mammal appeared to be readying himself for a jump, which confused Nick. "Is he really gonna try and jump that truck?" Nick said.

"Like he'll ever make it." Judy replied.

Just as the mammal jumped into the air, Judy leaped for his legs; grasping them.

Nick watched as the mammal jumped onto the truck's roof without a hitch, leaving a purple trail behind him as he did so. "Judy!" Nick yelled, when he saw her grasping onto the mammal's pants tightly.

Judy was flabbergasted by the mammals incredible leap, but she refocused on herself on apprehending the mammal.

Just as the mammal was gonna continue running, Judy tripped him, and leaped onto his back.

"You're under arrest!" Judy yelled, as reached for her handcuffs, before quickly cuffing the mammal's furry wrists behind his back.

Just as Judy was reading him his Miranda Rights, he rolled himself onto his back, knocking Judy off him.

"I'm won't let them take me, I'm sorry." The male mammal said, as he pulled on his cuffs, breaking them without a sweat.

Judy growled and reached for tranqulizer gun. "You're in real trouble now." She said, aiming the tranqulizer gun at the mammal.

The mammal stood up and faced Judy straight on, "You don't understand what's happening to me, you'll see me as a monster, you'll only hurt me!" The figure yelled.

"What are you talking about? We don't want to hurt you." Judy replied.

The figure reached for the hood over his head, and slowly pulled it off his head.

Judy saw the figures face, he was a light gray wolf pup, he appeared to be no older than 13 years old. The emotions on his face resembled that of sadness and fear, his eyes were a dark purple, but unlike her purple eyes, his eyes resembled somethings darker.

Judy continued staring into his sad eyes; to her the purple color of his eyes started to resemble that of the pedals of Night Howlers, yet she felt depressed.

"They're looking for me, they're gonna hurt me" The wolf cried.

"Who's looking for you? Who's they?" Judy questioned.

"I-I don't remember." The wolf replied, grasping his head.

"Well, what's your name?" Judy asked.

"N-Name? Name, name... My name is... No, I don't have much time, goodbye." The wolf said turning around.

Judy fired her tranqulizer gun, hitting the wolf on the neck.

The young wolf growled, and grasped his neck. Judy watched horrified as the wolf pulled out the dart, unaffected by it.

"You lied to me." The wolf growled, turning to face Judy. "You lied..."

Judy froze, as the wolf slowly approached her, baring his sharp carnivorous canines.

She watched as he began emitting a faint purplish flame around his entire body.

Judy walked back slowly, accidentally slipping backwards in fear.

Before the enraged wolf could do anything deadly, Nick between them, he held up a taser and switched it on, "Stay back you monster!" Nick yelled.

The wolf snarled at Nick, which only caused him to move closer to the wolf, "I said stay back!" Nick yelled once more, swinging the taser at the wolf.

The wolf stopped growling and slowly backed away, before turning around and running off into the crowded streets.

Nick sighed and turned off the taser, "Are you alright, Carrots?" Nick asked.

Judy didn't respond, she just sat there in thought. "Judy?" Nick said, kneeling down in front of her.

"He's depressed, he's alone isolated from the world within his own mind." Judy said, causing Nick to tilt his head.

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked.

Judy looked up at Nick and grabbed him by the collar, we need to go report this to HQ ASAP!" Judy said, standing up and hoping off the truck.

"Judy hold up!" Nick yelled, as Judy sped off towards their cruiser.

"What the hell where you cops doing on my truck!?" A pig asked, obviously outraged.

"Nothing Sir, sorry for the causing you trouble!" Nick replied chasing after Judy.

The pig just shrugged it off and continued to pick up any trash bins.

Nick saw Judy hopping into the police cruiser, "Hurry up Nick!" She yelled closing her door.

Nick quickly hopped into the passager side and quickly closed the door, so the rain would wet the inside.

"What's your problem Judy?" Nick questioned.

"I'll tell you later, we gotta head to HQ." She said, placing the cruiser's ignition key into the ignition.

"No we're not," Nick said pulling the key out of the ignition, "you're gonna tell what's going on." Nick said, placing the key into his pocket.

Judy sighed and started to weeping. "I could feel his emotions Nick, I felt depressed, I felt like I had just witnessed the murder of my parents and siblings, I felt alone." Judy jumped into Nicks arms and weeped into his clothed chest.

"He was so young Nick, he's in deep pain, someone did something to him, and I'm the only one who can save him." Judy cried.

Nick didn't respond, he just held her in his arms, gently rubbing her head.

"We need to save him Nick." Judy said, looking at Nick.

Nick looked down at her and smiled, "We will." Nick replied, which caused Judy to smile in return.

"And we won't stop until we end his suffering."


	2. Agents Of The Law

**-City of Zooopia-**

 **-ZPD Headquarters-**

 **-12:00 PM-**

 **-Nick & Judy-**

Nick and Judy quietly waited outside Chief Bogo's office as, he was busy reading their reports. The shadow of the large cape buffalo could be seen approaching through office's opaque glassed door. The door flew open revealing Chief Bogo in his blue police uniform with 4-Star insignias on both of his collars.

"You two, In my office now." Bogo said, pointing inside his office.

Judy and Nick glanced at each other, and quietly entered Bogo's office. "Have a seat." Bogo said, motioning towards two seats in front of his desk. Nick and Judy obliged and sat down as, Bogo took to his own seat.

Bogo crossed his hoofs together and sighed, "I've read your reports," Bogo uncrossed a hoof so he could reach for two folders lying on his desk. "I hope you put actual effort into these, because they sound like they're from a sci-fi story." He said throwing the folders in front of Judy and Nick.

Judy spoke up, "Will all due respect Chief, you're wrong. This wolf had supernatural powers."

Bogo leaned back on his chair running his Hoofs down his face, "You two are my best officers, I don't need you two making up silly stories."

"Chief, you gotta believe us." Nick said, causing Bogo to stand up and slam his hoofs down onto his desk.

"Fine, but If this turns out to be a joke, I'll consider your positions on the force," Bogo threatened, before taking a seat back down. "Im giving both of you full control over this case." Bogo said.

"That'll be great! Thanks Chief." Judy smiled.

"No problem but remember, I want this case solved ASAP." Bogo replied, shooing them out of his office.

Judy smiled in glee and grabbed Nick by his paw and dragged him out of the room. "Geez Carrots, I could've walked myself out." Nick said, rubbing his paw.

"I'm sorry Nick, but I'm just so happy." Judy said, hopping up and down uncontrollably.

Nick grabbed Judy by the shoulders; stopping her erratic jumping. "Calm down will ya." Nick chuckled.

"Right, sorry." Judy replied. "We gotta make things right for that poor pup." Judy said.

"Let's get looking then." Nick replied.

"Okay, let's go." Judy said, walking off.

As Judy and Nick went on to continue their investigation, they were stopped at the receptionist desk by an overweight cheetah, who went by the name Officer Clawhauser.

"Hey guys!" Clawhauser yelled, waving his paw at Nick and Judy.

"Hey Clawhauser!" Judy replied, "What's up?"

"Oh nothing, just enjoying some sprinkled donuts." He said, eating a sprinkled donut whole.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Clawhauser licked his fingers with delight. "There's these two scary looking dudes looking for you."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Scary looking? Where are they?" She asked.

"Over there." Clawhauser said, pointing just behind them towards two very observant looking individuals, who were wearing black sunglasses and dressed in black open suits, with black ties, and white long sleeve shirts underneath, standing by the HQ's front entrance.

Judy stared at the two individuals. "I don't think we should go talk to them." Nick whispered into Judy's left ear.

"They seem nice." Judy grinned, Nick just shrugged in response.

"Thanks Clawhauser." Judy said, looking back at Clawhauser's desk.

"Anything for you guys." Clawhauser replied, eating another donut whole.

Nick and Judy walked over to the two dark suited mammals. Closer inspection revealed that one was a husky or a wolf, who had black fur with white fur running down from beneath his muzzle and disappearing under his suit. He also had a earpiece wire running from his ear and disappearing into his suit.

The other one was wearing identical clothing to the husky, but appeared to be a cheetah instead. Judy also noticed they both had badges attached onto their belt, which were next to their belt buckles.

Both of their eyes were hidden under their sunglasses. The husky seemed to notice Nick and Judy approaching them.

"Can I help you?" The husky asked in an emotionless tone.

Judy stopped walking and replied, "Yes, I was told you gentlemen were looking for me and my partner."

Both the husky and the cheetah glared at each other. "Officer Judy Hopps and Officer Nick Wilde?" The husky asked.

"Yes, Sir." Judy replied.

"I need to speak to you both privately." The husky said.

"Um, we have interrogation rooms we could use." Judy suggested.

"That'll do." The husky quickly replied.

"Okay... Uh, follow me." Judy said, walking off.

Nick rushed next to Judy and began whispering into her ear. "Are you crazy? I don't feel safe being in a room with these people."

"You can wait outside." Judy replied.

"And leave you alone with them? No way Carrots." Nick replied.

"Then stop your complaining." Judy grinned.

Nick just huffed in response.

After a long four minute walk, they made it to hallway full of interrogation rooms, with some used by other ZPD officers.

Judy approached one of the interrogation rooms, and opened it revealing a room colorless room with a wooden table, four wooden chairs, and a dim light over the table.

This room was meant to maximize discomfort, which made Nick a little uneasy.

"Please have a seat." Judy offered.

"We're fine standing, Ma'am." The husky replied.

"Okay," Judy nervously chuckled. "so who are you?" Judy asked.

"I'm Special Agent Sparks of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." The husky said. "And this is my partner Special Agent Carter."

"You're in the FBI?" Judy asked, surprised.

"Yes, Ma'am." Agent Sparks replied.

"Well, its a pleasure to meet you both." Judy smiled, extending a paw towards Agent Sparks.

"The pleasures all mine." Agent Sparks replied as, he firmly shook her paw.

"And you too, Agent Carter." Judy extended her paw towards the cheetah, who scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Nice to meet you too." Judy chuckled nervously.

"My friend here isn't really the social type." Spark said. "But enough with the introductions, we're here to talk about your case."

Judy froze. "What about the case?"

"We're here for it." Agent Spark said.

"What do you mean 'here for it'?" Judy quickly replied.

"The FBI is taking over this investigation." Agent Spark answered, crossing his arms.

"What are you talking about? You can't ju-" Judy was briefly interrupted by the husky.

"We need all your leads, notes, reports, and-"

"Listen here bud," Judy pointed at Spark as, she slowly approached him. "I don't know who you think you are, but this is our case not yours."

Before Judy could actually lay her finger on Sparks, Agent Carter moved in to intercept her. He growled, reaching for something hidden under his suit.

"Woah, calm down!" Nick yelled, holding Judy back.

"Nick, stop them!" Judy yelled.

"Carrots be quiet." Nick hushed.

"No, either you stop them or I'll do it myself." Judy threatened, which caused Nick to look at the Agent Carter, who still had his paw under his open suit.

"Okay look, can we reach some sort of agreement or deal?" Nick suggested.

Agent Sparks placed a paw on the cheetah's shoulder, ordering him to stand down, and move back behind him.

"A deal with a Federal Agency?" Spark replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, a deal."

"Hmm," Agent Sparks scratched his chin. "Fine, only because I'm feeling a little generous today, but it's under my terms."

Judy began to grow furious. "Under his terms!? What abo-" Nick placed a paw over Judy's mouth.

"What are the agreements?" Nick asked.

"You will be allowed to apprehend the pup, but you aren't allowed to speak to him, or acknowledge his pleads."

"Okay, anything else?" Nick asked.

"Yes, I want him immediately turned over to the FBI once he's been captured." Spark replied.

"Is that it?" Nick asked.

Judy slapped Nicks paw away. "How do you even know about the pup!?" Judy questioned, which promptly caused Nick to replace his paw over her mouth.

"Yes, that's all." Spark replied, before looking down at Judy. "And to answer your question Officer Hopps, you weren't the first one to find out."

"Do we have a deal?" Spark asked.

Nick was about to respond, but was cut off by Judy once again slapping Nick's paw away. "Can we at least talk about why this is happening?" Judy asked.

Spark sighed. "A corporation has been illegally experimenting on mammals, and we suspect they've been doing it mainly on children."

Judy gasped in shock. "That's insane! Can't you just shut them down?"

"We could, but we don't have the proper evidence to prove them guilty." Spark sighed.

"What happens when we give the pup to you?" Judy asked.

"He'll used as evidence to hopefully put an end to the company's operations." Spark replied.

"And what happens to him?"

There was a slight pause before Spark replied to Judy's question. "Classified."

"Classified? Is that your best response? Judy scoffed.

"Sorry Ma'am, but it's important we keep that information confidential." Spark apologized.

Judy cast Spark a cold glare. "As long as he doesn't get locked up, or treated like a savage animal, I'll be happy."

"So, do we have a deal?" Spark asked.

Nick glanced down at Judy, who responded by nodding slightly. "It's a deal." Nick replied.

"Sorry we couldn't have more reasonable agreements, but I'm just doing my job as an agent of the law."

Judy sighed. "I understand, I can't blame you."

"Im glad you understand, here's my card." Spark handed Judy a small white rectangular card. "Please contact me immediately when the suspect has been subdued."

"Will do." Judy replied.

"Thank you for your time Officers." Spark nodded to both Nick and Judy as, he and Carter walked themselves out leaving both Judy and Nick alone.

Judy looked at the card Spark gave her, besides reading "Zootopian Department of Justice" and "Federal Bureau of Investigation" in big bold blue letters; it had all of Agents Spark's information, including his full name, Telephone, Fax, and Email.

"Phoenix V. Sparks, Special Agent, and part of the Zootopian Division." Judy read, before crumbling up the contact card, and throwing it over her shoulder.

"What are you doing!?" Nick yelled, catching the crumbled piece of paper Judy threw.

"If you think I'm actually gonna hand him over, you're wrong." Judy said, crossing her arms.

"Didn't you not hear what Agent Sparks was just saying? He's going to use him to bring down a company experimenting on children." Nick replied, which caused Judy to face away from him.

"Oh I heard him loud and clear Nick, but the problem is what's going to happen to the pup? They'll probably just do experiments on him why do you guess Agent Sparks kept it confidential? It'll all be one big government conspiracy."

"You must really care about him then." Nick sighed, placing the crumbled paper inside his pocket.

"We'll just get the information out of him ourselves, then we'll set him free somewhere safe." Judy proposed.

"We're going against a Ferderal Agency Judy, if we get caught we're going to be in BIG trouble." Nick warned.

"I understand the risks Nick, and I'm willing to take them." Judy replied.

Nick sighed. "I'm only going to help you because I love you."

"Shall we get going then?" Judy motioned towards the only door in the room.

Nick chuckled as, he walked towards the door. "Also you really gotta stop getting yourself into trouble, this is the second time I've saved you."

"I know you love saving me." Judy giggled.

Nick opened the door and stood aside, "Ladies first." He ushered.

Judy smiled as, she walked through the opened door. "My gentleman."

 **-Unknown Location-**

"Specimen has gone missing, his current status is complete."

"His psychological readings are high, his mind in becoming increasingly unstable."

"I want that little brat back! You hear me Doctor!? Back!"

"I understand, but he's somehow disabled our tracking device."

"He's the key to any of our future developments, I want him back."

"The company has deployed multiple agents to locate the boy."

"Good, and once we find him, I want his mind wiped and immediately sent out for field testing."

"Sounds like an excellent idea, Sir."

"Yes, and if he's successful, we'll have every military power in the world knocking on our door. All I need is your assurance Doctor."

"Director, I can assure you, my work will not be a disappointment."


	3. Old Memories

**-City of Zootopia-**

 **-Central City-**

 **-Unknown-**

It was a warm sunny day in Zootopia, the city's streets were busy, mammals of all types flocked down sidewalks; it was an overwhelming experience for anyone new to the city, or anyone new to society for that fact.

A lonely wolf pup, no older than 13, walked nervously down the packed Zootopian pedways. He ignored any pedestrian who crossed paths with him, petrified that one would suddenly pounce him and harm him and after what he experienced earlier, with that strange suited husky. He didn't trust anyone. Despite wearing a black hoodie, and tattered pants, he hugged himself, teeth clattering as he took cold breaths. He kept his eyes locked onto the ground, looking up occasionally to see if his path is clear from any strangers. But despite his efforts to lock out society, someone grabbed him by the shoulder, which caused him to gasp and turn around in shock. His hood flew of his head revealing his face to the stranger. "Please don't hurt me!" The pup pleaded as, he held his paws up to chest, clenching his eyes in fear.

"Hurt? No, I'm not here to hurt you little one." An elderly female voice replied.

The pup slowly opened his as, he felt a paw gently rubbing his head. He was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, the feeling of his head being rubbed reminded him of someone; it reminded him of a better place. For once in his life, he felt comforted. He carefully looked up to see a elderly female lynx, who had smiled upon seeing his terrified purple eyes.

"Oh, what beautiful eyes you have." The lynx smiled warmly.

"T-Thanks." The pup stuttered, nervously smiling in return.

"What's a little pup like you doing roaming the streets alone?" The lynx asked.

"I don't know." The pup sighed.

"It's a dangerous world, I always tell my grandsons to stay close to their parents." The lynx said as, she scratched behind the pups ear, which caused his tail to wag profusely.

The lynx chuckled, "You like that don't you?"

The pup nodded slightly in response.

"Where are your parents?" The lynx asked.

There was a slight pause in conversation, before the pup finally responded, "I don't know."

"Hmm, do you at least have parents?" The lynx asked, hoping to get a yes as a response.

"I don't think so." The pup responsed, getting a confused expression from the lynx.

"I'll take that as a no." The lynx sadly sighed.

"Here I have something for you." The lynx said, reaching for something in her pink purse, "I was gonna give this to my grandson, but I think you need it more than him." She extended a paw which held a twenty dollar bill. "Here take it."

The pup looked down at the twenty dollar bill. "Buy yourself something to eat, I know a starving mammal when I see one." The lynx chuckled slightly.

The pup slowly reached for the twenty with both of his paws, he carefully grasped onto bill. "A-Are you sure?" He asked.

"Of course darling, as long as you promise me you'll stay strong." The lynx replied, letting go of the twenty.

The pup tilted his head in confusion, "Strong?"

"Yes, stay strong, don't let anyone take advantage of you, keep your heart and soul strong." The lynx smiled.

"I-I promise." The pup relied.

"Good, now I must get going, I trust you'll make that money useful." The lynx, giving the pup one last pat on the head, before slowly walking off.

The pup watched as the old lynx walked away, he stared down at the bill he was given. Looking back up, he noticed the old lynx had disappeared. He looked around confused.

"Strong..." He repeated in his head, "...Strong..."

Unkown to the pup, there was a black sedan, with dark tinted windows, parked about thirty feet behind him, with two individuals watching him.

"Target has been confirmed, requesting backup immediately, over." The driver of the said into a black wired speaker that connected to a radio on the trucks dashboard.

 **"Affirmative, reinforcements are on the way, over"** A female voice replied over the radio.

After being unable to locate the old lynx, the pup sighed and continued walking down the sidewalk. The SUV's engines suddenly sprung to life, and slowly rolled forward.

The pup looked up at the building as, he walked down the sidewalk, hoping to find a good restaurant.

The pup began thinking to himself, he tried hard to remember who the old lynx reminded him of, he felt surprisingly warmer when the lynx had touched him, but he couldn't explain why. From what he could remember, he's been cold all of his life.

The pup suddenly stopped walking, he stared up at a sign that read "Lucky's Sandwich Hut."

The pup smiled, and looked down at his newly acquired twenty dollar bill. "Food... Finally." He whispered himself as, he quickly entered the restaurant.

"Target has entered a Lucky's Sandwich Hut, proceeding with pup pursuit, over."

 **"10-4, proceed with caution, over."**

The black SUV park in front of the sandwich hut, and two casually dressed mammals exited the vehicle.

The one exiting from the drivers side appeared to be a male arctic wolf, with an eyepatch over his right eye, leaving what appeared to be one golden eye exposed, while the one passager appeared to be a female. She was a beautiful red wolf, with light purple eyes.

The white wolf slammed the driver's door shut as, he entered the restaurant with his female partner following close behind him.

The pup smacked his lips as he waited in line, his nostrils were filled with the delicious smell of the toasted sandwiches. He watched as mammals left with trays full of food.

"NEXT!" The cashier yelled from in front of the line. The pup grew antsy, when he heard the deer in front of him ordering. He'd never actually ordered food for himself, but after what that elderly lynx did for him today, he was feeling a little more sociable.

Lthe interior of the restaurant was well kept, and cared for. There where countless pictures of very sophisticated looking sandwiches. The floor was checkered, and was nicely polished as well.

"NEXT!" The cashier yelled once again as, the deer in front of the pup left with a tray full of food.

"Uh, hello, sir." The pup waved nervously, grinning.

"Yeah hello, now hurry up and order I don't have all day." The cashier snorted. The cashier appeared to be a large brown male boar, his tusks appeared to have been removed and replaced with golden spherical golden caps.

The pup looked up at what appeared to be a menu. There was a vast array of pictures displays sandwiches, there was a menu for herbivores, and carnivore. Although he didn't understand the difference between a herbivore and a carnivore, he just chose whatever seemed appetizing to him. Which of course was the carnivore's menu. After figuring out what he wanted to order, he pointed up at the menu, "I want that one."

The boar looked up at the menu, "Which one?"

"That one!" The pup replied still pointing up at the menu.

The boar sighed, "Look kid, just say what you want."

"Oh, okay..." The pup lowered his finger and squinted his eyes.

"Can I have the Fried Chicken Sandwich." The pup replied.

"Will that be a combo?" The boar asked.

The pup tilted his head in confusion, "What's a combo?" He asked getting another frustrating sigh from the boar.

"Kid, I don't have time for jokes alright, do you want the combo or not?" The boar snorted.

"Uhhhh, nnno-yes please." The pup replied smiling nervously.

"Okay," The boar began inputting the pup's order into the cash register. "What would you like to drink?"

"Water please." The pup responded.

"Okay, what kind of chips would you like?" The boar asked.

"C-Chips?" The pup replied, confused by the question.

"I swear to god kid, you're busting my balls."

"What balls?" The pup jumped, checking his feet to make sure he wasn't standing on anything.

"It's a metaphor kid." The boar sighed, grabbing a random bag of chips from a rack located on the counter.

"Here." The boar said, handing the pup a bag of Cheetos.

"Thanks." The pup grabbed the bag of Cheetos.

"I'll be right back with your order." The boar said, grabbing a clean tray.

After a minute or so, the boar returned, the tray he was carrying had the pups wrapped sandwich, and had a bottle of water on the side. He placed the tray on the counter. "That'll be seven dollars."

The pup handed the cashier the twenty he was give, his tail began wagging profusely as, he watched the cashier place the twenty into the register, and pull out his change.

"Here's your change." The boar said, handing the pup thirteen dollars in change, who placed it inside his one of his pockets.

"Enjoy your meal. NEXT!" The boar yelled.

The pup quickly grabbed the tray of food, and walked carefully to a nearby table.

"Finally food." The pup smiled in glee as, he unwrapped his sandwich. He took a big bite of the chicken sandwich, he hummed in absolute delight; it was the best thing he ever tasted.

He picked up the bag of Cheetos and examined it, he examined the illustrations display in front of the bag; it appeared to be a cheetah wearing black sunglasses, skating while holding a cheeto in a gloved paw. He placed the bag next to his ear and shook it. He was startled by sound of the cheetos banging against the interior of the bag.

After being unable to open the bag, he threw it to side and reached for his bottled water, which he quickly opened and chugged.

The pup finally made it down to his last bite, which he happily ate. He laid back on his chair, he was surprisingly stuffed. Probably because he chugged the entire bottle of water in one go.

Unfortunately, his brief period of relaxation was interrupted by a loud screeching from outside. He perked his ears to the sound, and sat up spotting multiple black SUVs just outside the restaurant, he also suddenly felt someone grasp him tightly by the arm.

The pup yelped, and turned to face whoever was grasping him by the arm. "W-who are you!?" The pup cried.

"You're worst nightmare." The white wolf said in a Russian accent as, he tried to forcefully pull the pup away from his seat.

The pup grabbed ahold of the table he was using, with his free paw. "No! Please leave me alone!" The pup begged as, the white wolf grabbed him by the other arm.

"You made a big mistake running off boy." The white wolf chuckled evilly as, he yanked the pup off the chair.

"Just let me go! Please!" The pup pleaded, rage slowly building up inside of him.

"I was hoping you'd put up more of a fight, I still laugh thinking about your first pathetic attenpt to stop me." The white wolf chuckled.

"W-What are you talking about?" The pup said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the memory wipe." The white wolf sighed. "Oh well, hand me the syringe." The white wolf said to his female companion, who responded by pulling a small plastic case with a syringe inside. "Sure thing." She replied.

The pup saw as the red wolf opened the case, and removed a syringe filled with a clear substance, and extended it towards the white wolf.

The wolf removed his paw that was holding down the pup's right arm, and reached for syringe.

The pup felt an uncontrollable rage starting to build up inside him, and he couldn't sustain it any longer. The pup clenched his right fist, causing it to begin emitting an ominous purple flame. "Must... not get a-angry." He said to himself, clenching his teeth tightly in hopes of releasing some of his anger.

The white wolf saw as the pup's flaming fist was suddenly sent flying towards his face, he attempted to evade the fist by moving his head to the left, but was inevitably struck in his left eye.

Felix collapsed onto the ground, covering his left eye, as he became completely blinded. "Get him dammit!" Felix blindly yelled to the female wolf.

The female wolf nodded her head, and cautiously approached the pup.

"I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" The pup apologized, slowly backing away from the female wolf, who extended her paws carefully towards the pup.

"You're gonna regret ever laying a single paw on him." The female wolf said as, she neared the pup, holding the syringe tightly in her left paw.

The pup looked around for any possible escape routes, he noticed everyone in the building was staring at him in shock and in disbelief. Even the boar who served him was watching in disbelief.

The female wolf pounced the pup, but the pup somehow shifted around her, leaving a purple trail from where he once stood to where he was now currently standing. He gasped in surprise, he had never done that before. He had simply ran behind her.

The female wolf turned around, growling. She was becoming increasingly annoyed by the pup's antics.

The front entrance burst open with multiple armed masked mammals wearing bulletproof vests, they were wielding tasers and ordered everyone to get down on the ground.

The pup began to hyperventilate, he was incredibly frightened. He looked around for any means of escape, he looked over to where the registers were.

"There he is!" One of the armed mammals yelled, pointing towards the pup.

The pup quickly ran towards registers, and swiftly hoped over the counter, The female wolf quickly pursued the little wolf.

The pup ran into the kitchen, bumping into a couple of cooks, he quickly apologized to them, while the female wolf just pushed them aside. He ran towards what appeared to be a back door, he knocked over a bucket full of water, causing the female wolf to slip forward, but was able to catch herself before she could fall completely onto the ground. The pup quickly opened the door and slammed it shut behind him in hopes of slowing the red wolf down. He had now noticed the door lead into a long alleyway, he looked both left and right deciding which direction to take. Suddenly the door was violently bashed behind him. The pup pushed back against the door. After another violent bash the pup realized he wasn't going to be able to hold th door shut any longer, plus he could hear sirens approaching from the distance.

The pup decided that running and hiding was his best option, the last thing he wanted was to resolve to violence. He quickly dashed down the alleyway, looking for somewhere to hide. He spotted a large dirty green bin, and quickly approached it. He gagged and covered his nose, there was an extremely horrid smell coming from the open green dumpster, yet the pup decided it was his best option to avoid being seen by his pursuer. As the pup climbed inside, he heard another forceful bash come from the door the female wolf was behind. He quickly closed the lid and dug himself into the trash; covering himself in it as well. He heard as the door burst open, he waited patiently, staring into complete darkness, while taking heavy breaths, and occasionally gagging. He could hear footsteps just outside the bin, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

There was a sudden loud coughing coming from outside. "What the hell is that smell?" He heard a female say, followed by footsteps approaching the dumpster. "I don't get paid enough to do this." The female voice said, as the lid to the dumpster was lifted.

The pup kept his eyes tightly shut, and prayed that his trashy blanket would be enough to leave him unnoticed. He felt a sudden rummaging just beside his head, he felt his heart skip a beat.

"For god sakes, screw this." The female voice said slamming the lid shut. The pup finally gasped for air, and opened his eyes in relief.

"Target has escaped, calling off my pursuit." The pup heard the same female voice say, followed by fading footsteps.

The pup waited a few minutes to make sure the coast was clear. After a short while he heard nothing but silence, which caused him to sigh in relief, he dug himself out of the trash that was lying on top of him, and carelessly pushed the lid open as he did so. He jumped out and leaned against the bin covering his mouth, the horrible sour stench emitting from the bin, and his body made him retch. After a single gag, he dropped down on his knees and threw up. After a few minutes of the pup throwing up onto the ground, he shakily stood up, clenching onto his aching stomach. He slowly walked away, and could feel tears forming under his eyes, this wasn't the first time he's was found by "them" the people who did this to him.

The pup walked a good distance away from the restaurant's back door, and had decided to sit against the side of a brick building, so he could regain his baring. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes and thought about today's series of unfortunate events, he had almost gotten captured, being forced to hide inside a trash bin, and hurting someone. Although he acted in self defense, he couldn't bare knowing he hurt someone. He stayed on the subject for a while, he thought about how surprisingly familiar that one-eyed white wolf was. He also thought about what the wolf had said to him.

 _"I still laugh thinking about your first pathetic attempt to stop me."_

 _"Memory wipe..."_

These thoughts stayed stuck in his head, until he noticed a horrible smell crawling up his nostrils, he looked down and sniffed his jacket, he covered his nose after a quick sniff, he patted himself and noticed multiple wet spots located all over his sweater. "Oh great." He said to himself, not wanting to figure out what the wet spots were. The pup sighed, and proceeded to pull of his sweater exposing his white furred chest and abdomen. Closer inspection revealed a slightly hidden pinkish scar running down the middle of his chest, the pup never really payed much attention to it though. He stood up and slowly continued walking down the alley way until he reached the end, he watched as hundreds of mammals walked down the sidewalk at the end of the alleyway, he took a deep breath and walked into got he crowd, disappearing.

 **-Later That Night-**

Night had fallen upon Zootopia, lights filled the streets and slightly abandoned sidewalks, cars occasionally zoomed down the empty streets.

The pup could be seen wearing his dirty sweater, his eyelids were droopy, and was constantly yawning. He looked up at the bright full moon admiring its beauty, after a short while he looked back down and sighed, he searched for somewhere safe to sleep. He walked in front of a dimly lit alleyway, he stared down the alleyway, and noticed an abandoned mattress laying on the ground, he smiled and approached it, and kneeled down next to it. The pup ran a paw over the dirty mattress, admiring its softness. "Beats sleeping on the ground." The pup said to himself as, he carefully laid down on the mattress. He curled him into a foetus position. He yawned once more and closed his eyes, quickly falling into a deep cold slumber.

...

...

...

" _Help me..._ "

*Crying*

" _Help me..."_

 _"Don't try fighting me... Say your goodbyes while you still can."_

*Crying*

"Kill... Me."

 _..._

 _..._

 **"Why can't I remember?"**

 **"Why does everything seem so dark and clouded?"**

 _..._

 _..._

 ** _"Stop resisting."_**

 ** _"Use your anger."_**

 _..._

 **"No I made a promise to myself..."**

...

...

 **"srepsihW  
**

 **sllaw eht hguorht tuo gnihcaer erA**

 **em ot gnikaepS**

 **rednow yeht deracs dna tsoL**

 **deen ni ylterceS**

 **draeh eb ot gnihsiw era secioV**

 **eman ym gnimaercs sefiL**

 **ees I ssendnilb eht hguorhT**

 **...em rof gnivarc era uoy tahT**

 **sllaf emit thgin nehw dnA**

 **gnillac eciov ruoy raeh llits I**

 **luos ym nopu dekram si niap ruoY**

 **srae ruoy ot gnivar mI ,gnivaR**

 **won em raeh esaelP**

 **stnemom knalb esoht yawa edahS**

 **...ecnelis fO**

 **sllaf emit thgin nehw dnA**

 **gnillac eciov ruoy raeh llits I**

 **luos ym nopu dekram si niap uoY**

 **gninraey ma I nihtiw morF**

 **ssol ym htiw elicnocer oT**

 **nwonknu eht hguorht em ediuG"**

...

 ** _"Your words are as distorted as your memories."_**

 ** _"No-one will save you from yourself... Your destiny awaits you... Let your instincts take over... Become what your mean't to be..."_**

 **"A MONSTER!"**

"NOOO!" The pup screamed as, he frantically stood from the mattress. "IM NOT A MONSTER!"

The pup clenched his head as multiple voices whispered incomprehensible words to him.

"Get out of my head!" The pup yelled.

 **"It's only a matter of time."** One of the voices said to the pup.

"No!" The pup cried as, he punched a brick building, fresh blood now dripping off from his knuckles.

 **"Release me, Release me, ReLEse mE!"** An incredibly horrifying voice repeated.

The pup screamed as, he felt an incredibly painful headache, which caused him to fall onto his bottom.

"You can't escape what's inside you." The voice whispered.

The pup fell to his side and curled himself into a ball as rain suddenly started falling from I'm the sky. He closed his eyes, and began sobbing as, the voices taunted him. He felt himself become weightless, feeling as if he was floating in empty space; surrounded in nothing but darkness. Then there was silence. The pup stopped sobbing, but kept his eyes shut, maintaining the same position, he felt the sudden sensation of being underwater, he could hear slow masked breathing, followed by the sound of bubbles with an underwater ambience. The pup couldn't help, but slowly open his eyes, his vision was filled with a light transparent purple. He tried moving his head, but found it almost impossible to do so. His moved his head slightly down, he appeared to be completely naked. He could also see his bare feet floating just below him, followed by a blinding light. Strange enough, he wasn't able to move his feet, toes, or legs. He didn't feel like anything, he felt as if he was nothing but a head. The pup slowly moved his head to face his arms, which were floating as well, he tried to move each of his fingers on borg of his paws, but they seemed to only disobey his commands.

"I see you've finally woken up." A male voice said.

The pup looked foward and saw a clear image of figure standing staring back at him. Despite the strange purple liquid he was floating in, he was able to identify the figure as being a lightly brown husky with darkish white fur running from in between his sky blue eyes, down to his muzzle and down his neck; disappeared beneath a white lab coat. His tail was half brown and half white, he also appeared to have a good patch of brown fur on his head.

"How are you feeling?" The husky asked in a gentle tone.

The pup couldn't help but nod his head in response.

"Good? Are you having any past thoughts? Any flashbacks? The husky asked.

The pup made a confused look, but shook his head in response.

"Hmm, can you move your body?" The husky asked.

The pup shook his head.

The figure chuckled gently and approached the pup. He removed what appeared to be a set of semi rimless spectacles, "It appears the memory wipe was successful, but for your sake, I suppose it was for the best," the husky said rubhing his chin as, he examined the pup. "The injections appear to have reacted nicely with your blood compared to the other test subjects." The husky said as, he put on his glasses.

"But that doesn't mean it won't turn against you." The husky sighed. "You're body is a ticking time bomb just waiting for your savage side take you over." A friendly grin formed on the husky's muzzle. "Lucky for you, I can prevent that from happening." The husky said, turning away from the pup. "Tomorrow, we're going to preform heart surgery to hopefully buff its capabilities to remove these side affects, although it's not guaranteed it will. I mean, you ARE the first successful test subject."

There was silence as, the husky thought to himself. The pup watched the husky with a puzzled expression. The husky placed his paws on his waist, and nodded his head as, he turned to face the pup. "You probably won't remember this, since I'm required to preform a secondary memory wipe after your surgery, but you must resist all of your instincts attempts to takeover, or the consequences will be dire. Though, I suppose it won't be a problem since you'll be housed here near my facilities." The husky said. "Good chat," the husky chuckled, as he turned around getting ready to leave. "Goodnight." He said, as the pup's mind went completely black.

The pup gasped as, he opened his eyes. He was staring up the brick wall he was punching, "I'm not a monster." The pup read the bloody text as, he looked his blood covered paws, which you shaking frantically, he didn't even notice he was out of breath, until he was able to calm himself down, he had also noticed it was raining. Before the pup could do anything else, he heard a loud tire screech, which brought up memories from the restaurant. He ran looked for somewhere to hide. Ironically, there was a dumpster close by, but instead of jumping inside, he hid behind it. He felt a cold breeze rush down the alleyway. He placed the sweaters hoodie over his head, and waited silently. He heard footsteps approaching before they suddenly stopped, he heard two voices one belonging to a female and one belonging to a male. Out of fear he ran, but as he ran, he accidentally bumped into a glass bottle on the ground, which fell and shattered. He knew the two mammals had now noticed him and heard them begin their chase after him.

 **"ZPD, STOP RUNNING!"**

* * *

 **Confusing I know. :3**


	4. Saviors

**-City of Zootopia-**

 **-Midnight-**

 **-Nick & Judy-**

"Tell me again how you expect to find this kid?" Nick asked as, he prepared his and Judy's bed.

"I-I don't know." Judy sighed as, she scrolled through her laptop. "Agent Sparks said this "corporation" or whatever was experimenting on children, yet there isn't a single missing mammal case in the ZPD records."

"Maybe there's a system error." Nick said as, he spread a white blanket down on their bed.

"That can't be, the system is constantly being updated." Judy replied.

Nick sighed. "Judy..."

"I bet the FBI took all of the cases." Judy interrupted.

"Judy..." Nick said one again, before he was once again interrupted.

"Wait, I didn't even ask for the name of the corporation, how could I be so stupid?" Judy said, hitting her forehead. "Quick Nick, do you still have the-." Midway through her sentence, she spun her chair around to face Nick, who was kneeled down waiting for her.

He immediately grabbed her short muzzle and said. "Yes, I still have the contact card, and no, I'm not giving it to you." He said, letting go of her short muzzle.

"Why not?" Judy huffed, crossing her arms.

"Because it's late, and we have work tomorrow." Nick replied, making a sly grin.

"You can go to sleep, but I'm staying up." Judy smiled sarcastically, turning around to face her laptop.

"No you're not." Nick said, turning the chair around. "Even an active little bunny like you needs some shuteye."

"Do I have to remind you how many brothers and sisters I used to live with?" Judy replied.

"No, you don't. Now c'mon." Nick said, closing the laptop behind Judy.

"Ughhh, fine! You win." Judy said, throwing her paws up into the air as, she hopped off her chair.

"I'm doing this for your own good, Carrots." Nick grinned.

Despite giving up, she tried to convince Nick one again. "But seriously Nick, I feel like I should be doing some more resear-" Judy was quickly interrupted by Nick.

"Get in bed right now." Nick said snapping his finger as, he pointed towards their bed.

Judy huffed and walked towards the bed, ignoring Nick while she did so, she pulled the sheets back and laid down covering herself up to her neck.

"Wow, I should do that more often." Nick chuckled.

"Don't except any cuddles from me tonight." Judy said, moving the sheets over her face, hiding her expression.

"Good, I'm really tired anyways." Nick yawned, walking over the opposite side of the bed.

Judy made an angry huff under the white sheets. "Well... Me too."

"That's makes two of us then." Nick replied, laying down on the bed next to Judy.

Nick yawned once again, displaying his carnivorous teeth. "Night." Nick said, closing his eyes.

Judy didn't respond, but shortly after Nick felt her scooting ever so slightly next to him, Nick opened his eyes. "What are you doing?" Nick asked.

"...Cuddling..." Judy sheepishly replied.

"Humph, I knew you'd come around." Nick smirked, wrapping an arm around his companion.

 **-Morning Patrol-**

"Alright, he's the plan, we're going to be patrolling the pup's last known location. So, I expect you to be extra vigilant." Judy said, scanning the surrounding area as, she drove her and Nick's police cruiser.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Carrots." Nick said placing a pair of sunglasses over his eyes, and slouching down on his seat.

"Nick, I'm serious." Judy sighed.

"I'm looking, don't worry." Nick yawned.

Judy growled, but made a sly smirk. "Boy, we're never gonna find that poor pup in the police cruiser," Judy hummed, and snapped her fingers. "I know! We should go walking around, and ask EVERYONE we see questions." Judy said.

"Okay, what's it you need me to do again." Nick quickly responded as he sat up, removing his sunglasses.

"Well, it's simple. Stare out your window." Judy simply responded.

"For what?" Nick replied.

"Oh, I think you know who we're looking for." Judy replied with a chuckle.

There was a moment of silence as Judy drove on, Nick looked outside his window, he watched as countless rushing mammals hurried down the sidewalks, probably heading off to their jobs.

Nick decided to break the silence with small talk. "So, did you email Agent Sparks?" Nick asked, turning his head to face Judy.

"Yeah." Judy replied.

"Did he email you back." Nick asked.

Judy sighed. "Sadly no, but I'm sure he'll email me back sooner or later." Judy said, her expression lighting up.

Nick turned his head to face his window, when suddenly a male dispatcher spoke over the radio.

 _"We have a Code 3 disturbance, on 21610 Jackson Street by a Betsy's Corner Store. Suspect identified as being a young grey male Lupine. Nearest unit please respond."_

Judy quickly looked over to Nick. "That's him!" Judy yelled.

"Well, you know what to do, Carrots." Nick said, holdings onto his seat.

Judy flipped on the cars lights, and siren. "Hold on tight."

 **-Betsy's Corner Store-**

 **-Pup-**

"Stop it, you foul beast!" A female zebra, yelled, as the grey pup knocked down various racks, scavenging whatever piece food he could find.

The pup seemed to be spiraling out of control for some unknown reason, acting like a complete wild animal, he also had scratch marks all over his sweater.

"I called the police! You thief!" The zebra yelled as, the pup growled viciously towards her, giving her a bone shivering stare.

"Shut up you stripped horse." The pup said in a sorta dark demonic voice, which frightened, and surprised the zebra.

The female zebra hid behind the register. "I'm not afraid of you, you savage beast!" The zebra lied.

The pup ignored her, and bit open a bag of potato chips, dumping it all over his face. He emptied the bag, and continued digging through a food pile on the floor.

"That bag of chips wasn't free you know!" The zebra yelled, ducking down under the counter as, the pup threw a can of bean dip at the zebra.

The zebra growled angrily, and reached for something under the counter. "I didn't want to do this." The zebra said as, she held up a taser gun.

The pup looked up at her, eyes growling a dark ominous purple with dark shadows surrounding his eyes. The pup snarled at the female zebra, and slowly approached her. "You've really made me angry."

"S-Stand back! I mean it." The cashier yelled, her paws shaking nervously as, she aimed the taser at the pup.

"What are you gonna do? Shoot a little innocent pup like me?" The pup laughed manically.

"I-I don't care! I'm going to do it anyways." The female zebra warned.

The pup only ignored her warning, and kept nearing her, snarling viciously as he did so.

The zebra closed her eyes, and looked away as, she fired the taser blindly at the pup. Two barbs shot out, followed by a long wires attached to both of them. One barb impaled the pup right on his abdomen, while the other seemed to arch downwards, and land on his left thigh.

The pup was violently shocked, his muscles tensed up, which caused him to drop down on one knee. "You... S-Stupid... Bitch!" The pup managed to say.

The zebra watched horrified as, the pup slowly lifted up a paw towards his left thigh, and yank out the barb, tossing it onto the floor.

The pup slowly stood up, struggling as he did so. He reached for his abdomen, and pulled out the last barb shocking him.

The zebra dropped the taser, while she gazed at the pup in astonishment. "Y-You know, I was only joking right?" The female zebra chuckled nervously.

There was a wailing approaching the store, but the pup was too enraged to notice it. He charged the counter the zebra was behind, and pounced towards her. "I'm going to kill you!" The pup roared in his strange dark demonic voice.

The zebra screamed, and ducted down, which caused the pup pass overhead, and hit his head against the wall behind her. The pup fell flat onto the ground with a "thud". He groaned in pain before passing out cold.

The zebra took the opportunity to run out of the store, and into the parking lot. "There's a mad mammal in there!" She yelled.

A ZPD cruiser entered the parking lot, and parked in front of her.

"Go arrest that mad mammal!" The zebra said, as Nick and Judy exited the police cruiser.

"Don't worry ma'am, we've got this under control. "Judy assured.

"You better, that mammal tried to kill me!" The zebra said.

"Just relax and let us do our job." Judy replied, signaling Nick to lean in closer to her. "Once we go inside, get ready to subdue him, but don't be to aggressive." Judy whispered.

"You got it." Nick replied.

Nick and Judy cautiously entered the corner store, not wanting to aggravate the pup, who was still passed out behind the counter.

"There's no-one here." Nick said.

"How did he escape so quickly?" Judy said, looking around.

"I don't know, but he sure made a mess." Nick said, walking over the pile of opened and unopened food products.

"Yeah, must have been hungry too." Judy replied, picking up an empty bag of chips, while Nick investigated somewhere else

"Look at this, Carrots." Nick said, pointing at a hole behind the registers counter. Judy turned her head to face Nick, dropping the empty bag.

"Oh my god... What happened there." Judy gasped approaching the counter to get a better look at the damaged wall.

"Looks like someone was bashed against the wall." Nick said, examining the large hole.

Judy jumped onto the counter to get a better look, but noticed someone lying on the ground behind the counter. Judy gasped when she saw who it was. "Nick it's him!" Judy said, jumping down next to the pup. "He's knocked out."

Nick quickly jumped to the pup's aid. "Check for any injuries." Nick said.

Judy nodded her head, and looked over the pup. "His breathing is fine, no injuries as far as I can see." Judy replied.

"What do we do?" Nick asked.

"We're not turning him over... Let's take him back to our apartment." Judy said, which was returned with Nick quickly glancing over to her.

"Are you insane!? We'll get into BIG trouble for doing that!" Nick said.

"Well I don't trust anyone with him." Judy replied.

"Judy, you don't understand, we're going against the government." Nick said.

"You're not gonna be able to convince me, I hope you know that." Judy said, causing Nick to let out a deep sigh.

"But he stinks." Nick replied.

"He can burrow our shower." Judy said.

Nick shook his head, but inevitably agreed. "Fine."

Judy smiled, and looked down at the pup. "Don't worry, you're gonna be safe with us." Judy assured the unconscious pup.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Nick asked.

"How we're going to move him?" Judy replied.

"Uhh yeah." Nick sarcastically replied.

"Well, I'm way too small to lift him, and the only person I see fit to actually lift him would be you." Judy said, getting a scowl from Nick.

"I'm not carrying him." Nick said, crossing his arms.

"Oh yes, you're carrying him." Judy replied, crossing her arms as well.

"Make me." Nick chuckled.

 **-2 Minutes Later-**

Judy could be seen holding the stores door open as, Nick exited cradling the pup in his arms.

"I hate you so much." Nick panted, already exhausted from carrying the pup.

"I love you to." Judy chuckled.

Both Nick and Judy noticed that a large crowd of people had formed outside the store while the female zebra ranted about something.

The zebra noticed all of the crowds attention began focusing on something behind her, which caused her to turn around. She gasped at who she saw "THATS HIM! THATS THE KILLER WOLF I WAS TALKING ABOUT!" The zebra screamed.

"Oh no." Judy sighed.

The whole crowd quickly surrounded Nick and Judy, and began questioning them both, there was even one mammal who began recording Nick carrying the pup.

"What happened to that wolf?" A random mammal questioned.

Judy ignored the questions, and helped escort Nick over to the cruiser's front passenger seat. Afterwards, Judy quickly hurried over to the drivers side. She started the cruiser's engine, and wailed the sirens to clear a path.

"He better be worth it." Nick sighed, resting his head against his seat as, he held the pup in his arms.

"At least he'll be safe with us instead of wondering the streets." Judy said.

"I also hope that what that zebra was saying isn't true." Nick added, glancing over at Judy.

"It's not, or at least I hope so." Judy nervously replied.

"Just great." Nick said. "We'll probably get mauled in our sleep."

"He's a good pup, I know he is." Judy replied.

"He tried to kill you." Nick scoffed.

"He was scared." Judy countered.

Nick was gonna say something, but he stopped himself. "Judy, I'd trust you with my life. If you believe he won't do anything dangerous, I'll respect that."

Judy frowned after Nick's response. "I'm sorry for putting you through all of this trouble."

Nick sighed. "Don't be," Nick made a slight grin. "Besides, were would I be if I'd didn't put my trust in you?"

"Hmm, let me think..." Judy hummed. "In prison?" She answered.

"God I hope not." Nick laughed.

Judy laughed too, but stopped shortly after. "Nick... Thank you."

Nick chuckled, and smiled. "We're a team, you stand by my side, and I'll stand by yours.

"We're partners to the end."


	5. Enemy Within

**...**

 ** _"It's only a matter of time..."_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _"It's only a matter of time before you lose what's left of yourself..."_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _"Release me once again, and submit yourself over to me..._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _"...Let me end your suffering..."_**

 **"Stop lying to me!"**

 **"You almost killed an innocent-"**

 ** _..._**

 ** _"SHUT UP, I will have full control! I WILL break you."_**

 **...**

 **"You can never break me!"**

 ** _..._**

 ** _"Try me..."_**

The pup could be seen once again floating in a dark empty void, he was sobbing quietly to himself. He was forced into an empty world alone, he had nobody to protect him, he was just surrounded in empty space without any sound, or life.

 ** _"THEY tried locking you away from your horrible past, THEY thought they made you stronger, THEY thought you would successfully cope with your inner self..."_**

 ** _"But they were wrong..."_**

The pup was suddenly thrusted into a different world, and seemingly knocking him unconscious, but felt the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins, and found it incredibly hard to open his eyes.

He felt himself being dragged with two mammals holding him by each of his shoulders.

"Specimen has arrived on base, proceeding with standard protocol." A male with a recognizable Russian accent said to his left, whos voice sounded like it was masked.

" _Affirmative, Deathwatch. Proceed with standard arrival protocols._ " A male voice replied, which sounded like it come from some sort of radio.

The pup slowly opened his eyes after struggling to do so. He looked up and saw the back of a mammal walking just ahead of him, the mammal appeared to have the silhouette of a male, he also appeared to being wearing some sort of fully blacked out military uniform, which included shoulder and knee pads, black combat boots, pistol holster on his left leg, a small black bag hanging from his right leg, a jet black pasgt helmet, and black body armor, which had a neck guard surrounding his neck. The male mammal also appeared to have the tail of a leopard, and leopard ears protruding from his helmet

The pup also noticed a large patch with "BSSD" in big white letters on the upper part of unknown mammal's body armor. He felt himself begin to panic, he even noticed that the mammals around him sounded like they were breathing through gas masks, which gave him chills. He cautiously looked up to the mammal to his left, who seemed to have a deep male Russian accent. The pup widened his eyes in horror at what he saw.

The mammal to his left wore that exact same clothing as the the mammal walking in front of them, but had white wolf like ears protruding from his helmet, he also had a black M04 double filtered gas mask over his face, and muzzle that also had a white wolf skull painted over it.

The white eared wolf suddenly looked down at him, which caused the the pup to gasp in surprise. The dark tinted visors covering the white wolf's eyes gave him a cold, and emotionless stare.

"Look who decided to wake up." The white eared wolf chuckled under his mask, catching the attention of the leopard in front of him and the other mammal holding onto his right shoulder.

"Shall I sedate him again, Sir?" The leopard from in front asked, who's voice seemed to be masked as well.

"No... I want him to be aware of what's going on." The wolf grinned under his mask.

"Let me go! I want my mo-" Before the pup could finish, he was interrupted by the wolf.

"Close your pipe-hole, boy." The wolf said, dragging him up against a large window. "Look." The wolf simply said.

The pup looked inside the window and noticed a male coyote pup lying strapped down to a metal table, a recognizable blue eyed, brown husky wearing a white lab coat, with half rimless spectacles approach the coyote pup. He pushed a cart that seemed to carrying four syringes filled with a purple liquid.

There was also another male mammal in the room wearing a black military uniform complete with combat armor and helmet, but the mammal wasn't wearing a mask, revealing him to be a male hyena with a serious expression plastered on his face and appeared to be watching over the husky, he held a slightly modified P90 firmly in his paws, as he watched over the supposed scientist, he also had a small patch over his heart that read "BSD" in small white letters.

The pup watched in horror as the husky picked up one of the syringes, and flicked it with his fingers.

"STOP! PLEASE!" The coyote pup screamed as, the husky began lowering the syringe upon his arm. "PLEASE! I DONT LIKE SHOTS!" The coyote pup cried aloud. He screamed out in pain, as the husky inserted the long needle into his appendage. The husky pressed down on the syringe, injecting the purple liquid into the coyote pup's bloodstream. He began bawling, tears rushed down his cheeks, as the husky injected more of the liquid into his neck. Before the husky could inject the coyote pup a third time, the coyote had suddenly began spasming out almost like he was having a seizure. The coyote looked straight into the pup's eyes, he watched as the coyote's brown eyes slowly turned into bright purple, before they dimed out into a dark purple, until they had completely died out and the coyote was no longer moving.

The husky began doing CPR on the coyote pup's now lifeless corpse, but he only remained unresponsive. Blood slowly trickled out of the coyote's mouth, and nose and onto the cold stainless steel table.

The pup heard the wolf scoff. "Another failed attempt to raise our pay grade." The wolf sighed. "Alright, you guys get some R&R, I'll take him in."

"No, No, No please!" The pup begged, fighting the wolf's tight grip, as he pulled him into the room.

"Dispose of Specimen 979, bring in the new specimen." The husky sighed, as he wrote something down on a clipboard. "Thats already 27 failed attempts today." The husky said aloud without a hint of remorse.

"This ones quite weak." The masked wolf chuckled, fighting off the pup's sad attempts to break free. "Are you sure you aren't wasting your time on him?"

"He may be weak, but my creation could turn him into the worlds greatest Super Soldier, although I doubt he'd survive the initial injections." The doctor said, placing down the clipboard onto a nearby table. "I'm going to go grab two more serums, take care of my specimen."

"Whatever you say, doc." The wolf said, forcing the pup onto the table and tying his limbs down onto it.

"I just want to go home..." The pup cried.

The wolf laughed and brought his masked face close to the pup's. "There's no going home, you have no-one, you have only yourself." The wolf whispered, pulling his head away from the pup and laughing once more.

"Why are you doing this to me?" The pup sobbed.

"Kid, I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. Call me crazy, but I find this job rather... Enjoyable." The wolf grinned under his gas mask.

"Alright let's get this over with." The brown husky said, carrying two syringes to make up for the two wasted on the coyote pup.

"Good luck." The wolf snickered to the pup.

The pup watched as the doctor approached the side of the table and held up a syringe. "Hold still." He said, as he inserted the large needle into his arm. He felt the needle penetrate a vein, before the doctor pressed down on the syringe; injecting the purple liquid into his bloodstream.

The pup felt a sharp pain rush up his arm, which strangely quickly subsided. The doctor raised an eyebrow, and inserted another syringe into his other arm. The same painful sensation rushed up his other arm, but once again quickly subsided. Once again the doctor injected the pup a third time, but this time it was the pup's neck. He screamed out in pain as, the purple substance was injected into his neck. He felt an immense throbbing pain in his head that felt more like an extremely painful migraine. He began hearing strange noises in his head that sounded almost like... whispering. He clenched his fists, he felt powerful, he felt like he could accomplish anything, but he felt the sudden undesirable urge to hurt someone... To kill someone.

"By-God, it's working." The brown husky gasped. "Quick! Someone get the containment unit ready, and get him ready for stage two." The brown husky yelled.

The hyena nodded his head, and quickly left the room.

The husky injected the last of the serum right over the pup's heart, which caused the pup to gasp out, the doctor watched as the pup's body emitted a powerful purple flame.

"I have successfully evolved the predators gene!" The husky celebrated as, he watched the pup.

The pup felt an unprecedented amount of anger flow throughout him, but before he could do anything to dangerous, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest, which caused him to blackout. All of his energy faded out of his body, and he was left in an empty void.

 ** _"I'm coming for you..."_**

The pup gasped awake, he frantically looked around; finding himself inside a dark room, he heard the sound of shackles rattling, as he tried moving his paws, which were currently held in place by shackles bolted into a cold concrete wall just above his head.

He felt powerless, exposed, and vulnerable. He could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate, but his breaths were suddenly muffled by duct tape mysteriously appearing over his mouth.

 ** _"What's the matter? Can't talk?"_** A voice laughed. **_"I can do what I want here. One second, you could be breathing like so, but the next... You could be suffocating."_** The voice chuckled evilly.

The pup widened his eyes, when he suddenly couldn't intake any air through his nostrils. "Mrmph mmmrpph mmmrrrmph!" The pup muffled aloud.

 ** _"What's that? I can't quite understand you."_** The voice chuckled.

"MRMMPH MMMRPPH!" The pup cried, as he thrashed himself around.

 ** _"Hmmm, must be the duct tape on your muzzle."_** The voice said.

The pup could feel his face turning purple under his fur, he slowly went limp, and his vision blurred, but out of the darkness a figure appeared.

 ** _"So weak, so pathetic."_** The figure said in a dark tone.

The figured reached down, and yanked away the duck tape covering the pup's mouth. He gasped, and quickly took in long deep breaths.

 ** _"Unfortunately, your time isn't up yet."_** The figure chuckled. ** _"You_** **_know, I'm doing you a favor by keeping your deeper memories hidden. Although, I'm not afraid to reveal them to you."_**

The pup remained silent in an attempt to ignore the unknown figure.

" ** _Why do you refuse to stare up at the inevitable? Don't you want to glance up and witness superiority at its finest?"_** The figure said as, he stood over the pup. **_"Humph, I tried playing nice with you, but it seems I must take more... drastic steps."_** The figure chuckled coldly, making a venomous grin.

The pup felt the figure grasp him by the neck with a single paw, and lift him up to his eye level.

It was like staring into a mirror, the figure appeared to be a completely identical form of the pup, but had a few features that stood out. First off, the twin was covered in what appeared to be old blood, and had dark shadows under his vicious purple eyes.

 ** _"What a waste of life, I deserve better than to be trapped inside your miserable mind."_** The twin spat, dropping the pup.

"I never wanted this, I didn't want to become a weapon." The pup retorted, trying to pry off the twins grasp

The twin laughed out loud. **_"Who cares! I've been trapped inside the dark corners of you pathetic brain ever since you were born, I crave for destruction and chaos."_**

The pup clenched his fists in anger. "You will never have your way, so do your worst."

The twin chuckled evilly. ** _"With pleasure."_** The twin tightly clenched his right paw, and prepared to strike the defenseless pup, but just as the fist of the twin was about to make contact with the side of the pup's head, he froze.

The pup looked up and noticed that that his evil twin had just barely stopped a few mere inches from him. Suddenly, he felt the shackles losened their tight grip around his wrists. He looked up, and saw that the shackles had dissipated into nothing but metallic dust. He slowly lowered his paws down to his eye level, and examined them.

 _"It's okay, sweetheart. I'm here for you."_ A female voice echoed from the darkness, which surprised the pup, because of how familiar the female voice sounded.

"W-Who are you!" The pup yelled into the darkness.

 _"You're not alone... You're safe now."_ The female voice said in a gentle tone.

There was sudden bright light that caused the pup to look away, but once his eyes adapted to the sudden flash of light, he noticed the source of the light was a glowing passage in the shape of a door frame.

The pup felt a sudden irresistible urge to walk towards it. He slowly stood up, using his left arm to shield his eyes. The pup gave his frozen twin one last glance, before he slowly walked towards the light. As the pup neared the light he could feel his heart beat speeding up.

 _"You will always be my little bundle of joy."_ The female voice said, as the pup was now only a few feet away from the doorway. _"You will never be alone, you have friends now."_ The female voice said, as the pup stopped a few inches away from the door.

The pup looked at the door with curiosity and slowly extended a paw towards it, he watched as his arm disappeared inside the bright white door. The pup smiled and slowly entered the door, but was suddenly stopped by someone grasping onto his other arm.

 ** _"You're not going anywhere!"_** The pup's evil twin said, as he tugged on the pup's arm, pulling him out of the bright door.

The pup yelped in surprise. The twin laughed manically, but was suddenly surprised when a paw made of up pure light grasped his arm.

 ** _"What the hell!?"_** The twin gasped in surprise, turning around to see who had grabbed onto him. The twin's eyes grew wide when he saw a female wolf made up of pure white light looking down upon him with glowing blue eyes.

 _"Don't you dare touch him!"_ The white female figure yelled, as she yanked on the twin's arm, causing him to lose his grip around the pup's arm.

 ** _"No, No, No!"_** The twin yelled. ** _"I will be free! You aren't safe from me!"_** The twin was slowly being absorbed into the mysterious female wolf.

The pup watched in complete and utter shock, but before he could say anything; the figure used an unseen force to push him inside the door.

Everything was bright, but darkness quickly consumed him once more, but this time it was different...

The pup felt his head throbbing in pain, he groaned and lifted a paw up to his head. After a short while he noticed he was laying on something soft, and was covered in some sort of thick blanket. He slowly opened his eyes, letting light seep through.

"Look, he's waking up." A female voice said, catching the pup off guard.

"W-Where am I?" The pup asked as, he tried to sit up, but found himself too weak to do so.

"Somewhere safe." The female said, which was followed by the pup to coughing aloud. "Nick..." the female said, which pup promoted a quick response.

"On it." A male red fox replied, who went by the name Nick. Shortly after 'Nick' returned with a glass of what appeared to be water. He kneeled down next to the pup and held the glass in front of the him.

Without any hesitation, the pup reached for the glass, and quickly downed its contents. The pup felt his throat moisten up causing him to sigh in satisfaction.

"How are you feeling?" The female asked.

The pup glanced over and saw that it was a familiar grey bunny talking to him. He also noticed he was laying on a clean green sofa. "I'm okay." He replied.

The female bunny smiled and cleared her throat. "Well, my name is Judy Hopps, but you can just call me Judy," Judy said putting placing a paw on her chest. "And this here his my partner in crime, Nick." Judy said, motioning over to Nick, who was leaning on the sofa.

"So whats your name?" Judy asked, getting a confused expression from the pup.

"M-My name?" He said.

"Yes, your name." Judy smiled inching a little closer to the pup.

"I-I don't know." The pup replied scratching his head.

"What's do you mean 'you don't know'. You must at least remember your first, or last name." Judy said, causing the pup sigh. "Try to remember, I know you can remember it somehow."

The pup nodded his head and closed his eye as, he tried desperately to remember his name or at least a fragment of it.

After a few seconds of digging through his blurred memories, the pup gave up and opened his eyes. "I can't." He said.

Judy frowned. "It's alright, but if you remember it don't be afraid to share it."

The pup nodded, but then it hit him. He suddenly remembered being somewhere with that brown husky scientist, but despite being faintly blurred, he remembered the scientist had call him by something.

"Wait." The pup said, catching the attention of Nick and Judy. "I think I remember." The memory slowly resurfaced. Then he heard it, he had finally after many nights of wondering remembered his own name, or so he thought.

"I remember now." The pup smiled. "I remember!"

"What is it." Judy smiled as well, excited to finally hear the pup's name.

The pup puffed out his chest in excitement.

"It's Project Tanzanite."


	6. The New Life Of Max

**-City of Zootopia-**

 **-Nick & Judy's Apartment-**

"Project Tanzanite!" The pup smiled in glee as, he remembered his "name".

Judy's smile slowly shattered into a million pieces after hearing what the pup had just said. Judy glanced over to Nick to see his reaction, but he only shrugged in response.

The pup however was smiling in absolute content. He, after so long, had finally remembered his own name.

Judy shook her head, and cleared her throat. "Are you sure that's your name?" She questioned, hopping to get a different answer.

The pup nodded his head. "I'm sure." He replied, still smiling.

Judy lowered her head and sighed, but shortly after looked back up at the pup smiling. "You look like someone I used to go to school with when I was younger." Judy said, getting a confused expression from the pup.

"Someone you know?" The pup asked.

"Yes, and if I remember correctly, his name was... M-Max." Judy replied keeping her fake smile.

"Max?" The pup said, unsure about the nickname.

"Yes, you remind me of him, so we'll call you Max. Okay?" Judy replied, hopping to get a positive response from him.

The pup though for a second before putting on a wide smile. "I like Max." The pup said, causing Judy to sigh in relief.

"That's good. Now are you feeling better?" Judy asked, which prompted a quick nod from the pup.

"Yeah, I feel a little better, I just have a small headache that's all." The pup replied, rubbing the top of his head.

"I think we might have some painkillers laying around here somewhere." Judy said, looking around, before she remembered something. "Oh how could I forget," Judy bumped her forehead with her tiny paw. "We bought you some new clothes."

Max's smile grew even brighter, his tail wagged underneath him despite him sitting on it. "Really!?" He said, overjoyed with the news.

"Yup, we checked your measurements while you were asleep." Judy said, walking over to bag laying on the ground next to her and Nick's bed. "They're not the best, but I don't think you'd mind." Judy said, walking back over to Max.

Max eyed the bag, but before he could actually go through it himself, he was handed a stack of neatly folded clothes.

"First, you need to get rid of that horrible smell," Judy said, getting an annoyed groan from Max. "You can use our shower." Judy said, motioning over to their bathroom.

Max sighed, and threw the sheets off his body, finding that he was still wearing his old horrid smelling clothes.

"You can leave your old clothes on the bathroom floor." Judy said.

Max left the two police officers alone, so he could go take a quick shower, and go through his newly bought clothes.

Once Judy heard the door to their bathroom close shut, she glanced over to Nick, who had just knelt up holding Max's empty cup in his paws.

"Seriously Judy? Max? Was that the best name you could've come up with?" Nick smirked, walking over to the kitchen so he could put the cup into the kitchen sink.

"I know, I'm sorry, but it was the first name that popped into my head." Judy sheepishly admitted, placing the bag next to the couch.

"Well, he didn't seem to mind it that much." Nick chuckled. "How long are you planning on letting this pup stay with us?" Nick asked, getting a long sigh from Judy.

"Just until we find a better way." Judy replied, walking over to Nick, who was now leaning against the kitchen sink.

"Well, let's just hope our friends over at the federal bureau don't come crashing through our front door." Nick said, eyeing Judy until she stopped next to him.

Judy leaned herself against Nick and began chuckling softly. "You know, it'll be like taking care of our very own kit." Judy said, looking up at Nick with a mischievous grin plastered on her face.

After hearing that comment, Nick felt his whole world suddenly begin to crumble inside his head. "Uhh..." Nick immediately blushed after Judy's comment, and gently shoved her aside. "Don't go making me have second thoughts about this whole thing."

"I'm only joking." Judy laughed. "It's just, you look SO adorable when you blush."

Nick rolled his eyes, and grabbed a TV remote laying on a wooden coffee table just in front of the couch the pup was laying in, and just next to the wooden table was a flat screen TV.

Nick jumped onto the couch, landing on his back, with his head and feet landing on the arm rests. "Whatever." Nick sighed switching the TV on via remote. Switching through various channels.

Judy chuckled slightly to herself, when her ears perked to the sound of a door opening and closing.

As Judy had predicted, the pup slowly entered the living room wearing nothing but a white undershirt, and a fresh pair of blue checkered boxers.

"I'm done." Max said, his fur still a little soggy from the shower.

"Did you have any trouble?" Judy asked.

"No." The pup replied.

"Do you still need those painkillers?" Judy asked.

The pup shook his head. "Nah, I'm feeling much better now."

"That's good to hear. Now about those new clothes." Judy said, walking over to where she last set down the bag containing the pup's new clothing.

Max waited impatiently, as Judy carried the bag over to him, gently placing it down in front of him.

Max dropped to his knees, and quickly opened up the bag; it was like staring into a pot of gold, or at least for him anyway.

Before he could actually rummage through the bag, he couldn't feel but a tad bit guilty. "You didn't have to buy me these." The pup said, looking up at Judy.

Judy smiled, and simply responded with "Whats mine is yours."

The pup smiled as well, and immediately began digging through the bag; it felt like early Christmas to Max, yet he couldn't recall the last time he had an actual Christmas, since he spent his last known Christmas sitting outside a electronics store watching Christmas cartoons through a glass window.

Judy couldn't help but laugh, as the pup admired the clothing, she even noticed he seemed to find more of an interest in the T-shirts Nick picked out. She ultimately came up with the conclusion that it was merely a boys thing.

After watching the pup for a few minutes, she decided to question him a little further. She walked over to Max, and knelt down next to him. "So what do you think?" Judy asked, as Max slipped on a grey shirt that had the words "I'd flex, but I like this shirt" written in write capitalized letters, which was obviously picked out by Nick.

"I love them!" Max replied, Getting a warm smile from Judy in return.

Judy waited a minute before asking him another question. "Do you know what happened to you?" She asked.

Max sighed. "I don't know, the last thing I remember was waking up on a cold metal table with all these mammals staring down at me... They were wearing white coats that had blood smeared all over them..." Max stopped explaining, and looked unsure wether to continue.

Judy noticed the pup seemed be a little uncomfortable, and encouraged him to press on with his story.

Max sighed and continued on. "I was cold, tired, scared, and naked. Those mammals with the blood only watched me, they watched me with their cold emotionless eyes, like they were waiting for me to do something. I wanted to get out of wherever I was, but when I rolled myself off the metal table, my legs gave out, I was too weak to stand, I cried out when I slammed onto the blood smeared ground."

Max suddenly began to breath heavy, with tears slowly forming in his eyes. "One of them walked over to me, while I scrambled to regain my strength to stand up. He stood over me, and knelt down closer to my shaking body, he was a male brown husky I think. He grasped my arm, and held up a syringe. He gave me the widest smile, and looked at me like I was his creation."

Judy rubbed the pup's back, and scooted over until both their body's touched. "That's sounds awful, what did he do to you?" Judy asked.

Max sniffled, and wiped the little tears he had underneath his eyes. "It's more like what I did."

Judy gave Max a puzzled look, but he ignored it, and made it obvious that he didn't want to continue. Judy sat there quietly, as she processed all of the information that Max had told her, she decided to ask him one more question. "Who are your parents?"

The question caught Max off guard, he turned his head to face Judy. "I don't know, I don't even think I have a family." He frowned.

Judy brought him into an embrace, and ran her paw down the top of his head. "I bet you have loving family, who are looking all over for." Judy assured the pup.

"Do you really think so?" Max replied looking up at Judy.

Judy nodded her head. "Of course and besides, you have me and Nick to keep you company."

Max smiled, and hugged Judy tightly. "Thank you so much." He said.

"Anything for you little pup." Judy replied, nuzzling Max's furry head.

Nick was was secretly glancing over at the two, he rolled his eyes and continued watching TV. " _What did I get myself into._ " He thought to himself.

Soon after, Judy had prepared dinner, and after an extremely long day of taking care of Max, and Nick; it was finally night time. Nick had laid down, and Judy had tucked Max in right next to him, which of course Nick protested against it, but in the end he feel asleep with an arm wrapped around Max.

Judy sighed, and stretched her limbs. After a hard days work she really needed a break, and time to catch up on her work, and maybe a snack as well.

After rummaging through the fridge, she emerged with a small plastic bag filled with freshly peeled carrots just for her. She walked over to her little work station, and sat down on her rolling chair. She opened up her laptop and powered it on.

While Judy waited for laptop to power on, she turned over to check on Max, who was peacefully sleeping. Judy smiled and thought about life with Max in it.

Judy turned back to face her laptop, and logged on, as she took a carrot out of the plastic and take a bite of the tasty veggie. She noticed she had six email notifications, she scrolled through them finding that they were nothing more than spam... Except one.

She had gotten a reply from Agent Sparks, she quickly opened it, revealing a single Link with a message below that said "Remember our deal."

Judy opened up the link, which redirected her to a website. The first thing she noticed from the website was a logo with a blue Atom particle with a red DNA strand in the middle of it, followed by a name Judy couldn't help but say out loud.

"...Biotech..."

 **-City of Zootopia-**

 **-Unkown Location-**

A lone black suited male brown bear could be seen standing over a large window, watching over the mesmerizing; light engulfed city of Zootopia. The bear shook a small glass he had in his large right paw, filled with a clear orangey liquid and ice cubes, before he slowly brought it up to his muzzle, taking a quick sip from it.

He was in a large room, with numerous brown wooden bookshelves containing a colorful array of books. There was also a black couch, and a mini bar. There was also a large black rug in the middle of the room with a blue Atom particle followed by a red DNA strand in the middle of the Atom.

Just behind the large bear was a brown wooden desk with a fancy black rolling chair with the same emblem from the rug painted onto it.

The bear was about to take another sip of his cup of scotch when there was a light rapping in his office's door.

"Come in." The bear said in an extremely deep voice. He heard as the door slowly swung open, and was carefully closed.

"Good afternoon, Sir." A male voice said.

"Doctor, I knew I smelt something funny. What brings you to my domain?" The bear asked, still staring out his big window.

The "Doctor" coughed nervously. "Well, I've received a call from one of our foreign clients, they're demanding that we send them the NH-79 serum.

"First of all Doctor, it's Director." The bear growled, slowly turning around to face an extremely uneasy looking brown husky, who wore a white lab coat, and a pair of half rimmed spectacles.

The husky gulped nervously. "Sorry Director." He apologized.

The bear humphed, and sat down on his large chair. "And why haven't you sent them one?" The bear asked, getting no response from the husky.

The bear sighed. "I'm extremely annoyed by your incompetence Doctor, NH-79 is the key to this corporations ultimate success. According to you."

"I understand Director, but Subject 986 has evaded all of our attempts to subdue him." The brown husky said.

The bear's upper lip twitched, as he was slowly set down his glass cup. He let out a big sigh and slowly stood up, walking over to his mini bar. "Would you like a drink?" The bear asked, grabbing a clean crystal clear glass cup from the mini bar.

"I-I don't drink." The husky replied, refusing the bear's offer.

The bear clenched the glass cup tightly in his paws, and proceeded to open a bottle of scotch, and pour some of it's contents into the glass cup.

The husky watched as the large bear closed the bottle, and walked over to him, placing the glass cup on his desk with it being in arms reach of the brown husky.

"Nonsense Doctor, a little alcohol wouldn't bite. Besides, it's rude to refuse someone's offer." The suited bear growled, baring his teeth; which caused the husky to quickly reach for the scotch filled glass cup.

The husky took a sip of the orange colored scotch, which resulted in him coughing violently, as the orange liquid burned his throat.

The bear chuckled. "See? Nothing to it. Now about Project Tanzanite." The bear said, walking over to his seat.

"Ah yes, Subject 986. Like I said before, he's been a bit of a nuisance lately, with injuring one of our security members and all." The husky said, which caused the bear to angrily growl once more.

"Who did it injure?" The bear asked.

"It's a he." The husky coughed. "And someone by the name, of Feliks."

"That someone is Feliks Novikov, my head of security, and leader of our elite BSSU Unit." The bear growled. "And I don't give two flying shits if it's a he. From what I know; it's not even considered a functional mammal anymore."

The husky lowered his head, as the bear began chewing him out.

"I'm funding this project of yours Doctor, but when one of my most loyal associates gets hurt; it really pisses me off." The bear snarled. "I will no longer tolerate any more mishaps, if anymore incidents were to occur, I will see to it that all fundings towards Project Tanzanite are cut. Am I understood?"

"I understand; it won't happen again." The husky replied. "I'll have a fully functional serum done within the month once Subject 986 has been captured, and has completed field tests."

"Good." The bear sat down on his large rolling chair, sighing deeply as he did so. "Now get the hell out of my office."

The husky quietly stood up and turned to leave, when the bear suddenly stopped him in his tracks.

"Remember your place Doctor." The bear said. "I would hate to take any unnecessary actions against you..."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey everyone, Sparky here! Sorry for the HUGE and I mean HUGE delay... I've been really busy with work, and also with the recent release of Halo Wars 2, and Wildlands, I've been a little occupied. All I gotta say is thank you for your continued support! Please don't be afraid to leave behind a train of criticism, as I'm always open to your opinions.**


	7. Never Ending Mysteries

**-...-**

 **-Max-**

 _"There once lived a happy little pup. The pup lived in a wonderful house with a loving, caring family..."_

The scene shifted to a forest, there was a gorgeous wooden house in a large clearing with a dirt road leading into the unknown. Night time had come upon the house. The sound of crickets echoed throughout the dark forest.

 _"You thought you were safe, you thought your little room was a safe haven, somewhere you could go when all things in life seemed to take a turn for the worst."_

The inside of the house was well furnished, although the lights were off; it would've given anyone the feeling of comfort, and the warm feeling of being home sweet home. Just down a long dark hallway revealed a partially opened white wooden door, with a tiny bit of moonlight escaping through the cracks of it.

 _"All this happiness taunted me; it mocked me, I needed to escape it; it needed to be destroy..."_

Suddenly a large dark tinted, black truck came driving down the dirt path, parking just in front of the sleeping house, with someone exiting from the drivers side.

 _"Oh how so long I waited for this day to come, the day I knew I would change my place in this world of yours."_

 _ **"Tili tili bom"**_

 _ **"Close your eyes now"**_

The shadow of a figure slid across the walls of the house, as it began to sing a Russian lullaby.

 _ **"Someone's walking outside the house"**_

 _"There was no hiding this time, even crying couldn't save you from my destiny."_

 _ **"And knocks on the door"**_

The front door to the house was suddenly unlocked, followed by someone quietly entering. The unknown figure was wearing what appeared to be a black BDU uniform, with heavy black boots to complement it.

 _ **"Tili tili bom"**_

 _ **"The nightbirds are chirping"**_

Max was seen quickly opening his eyes, when he heard heavy footsteps echo down the hallway leading into his room.

 _"Remember those stories your mom told you just before bed? About those monsters that would snatch up children who couldn't sleep?"_

 _ **"He is inside the house"**_

 _ **"To visit those who can't sleep"**_

Max began to shake in fear, as the footsteps echoed into his room. He quickly covered himself up to his neck, and closed his eyes, so he could go back to sleep. He thought if he fell back to sleep the "monster" would go away.

 _"Oh how could I forget, you don't even remember the bitch."_

 _ **"He walks"**_

 _ **"He is coming …  
… Closer"**_

 _"There was no use in hiding, or pretending... He had has his sights set on you."_

There was a shadow of what appeared to be a wolf walking down the side of hallway, in sync with the echo of the heavy footsteps.

 _ **"Tili tili bom"  
**_

 _ **"Can you hear him closing in?"**_

 _ **"Lurking around the corner"**_

 _"You remembered what your dad would say to you, about facing your fears head on, you thought about jumping up from your bed and charging the monster... But you couldn't bring your pathetic self to do it."_

 _ **"Staring right at you."**_

Max opened his eyes, and started at his door with wide eyes, as his heart raced at unimaginable speeds.

 _ **"Tili tili bom"**_

 _ **"The silent night hides everything"  
**_

Max saw as a shadow emerged from underneath his door, shortly followed by a gloved hand grabbing the side of his door. Out of fear, he threw his sheets over his head, and held his breath, thinking the monster wouldn't hear him.

 _ **"He sneaks up behind you**_

 _ **And he is going to get you"**_

The door creaked open, and a slight chuckle could be heard coming from the monster, as it's footsteps approached the side of his bed.

 _"The day had finally come! The day where all your happiness would finally die!"_

 _ **"He walks  
He is coming …  
… Closer"  
**_

Suddenly everything went silent, the monster had stop singing, and the footsteps were no more. Max waited a few more seconds just to be certain the monster was gone, before he gasped for air.

Without any warning, Max's sheets were yanked off, causing him to scream out in surprise. Max looked up, to his surprise what he saw wasn't a monster, but a golden eyed white male wolf with a eyepatch over his right eye, staring down at him with the biggest grin he's ever see, and just behind him stood Max's sadistic twin with a grin that could compare to the wolf's.

"The day where you became the true monster." Max's twin laughed manically, before the wolf reached down and grabbed him, which mysteriously caused Max to blackout.

...

Max gasped, as his eyes shot open, he moved his eyes around surveying his surroundings. He sighed when he realized it was only a nightmare, although he grew concerned on how real his dreams were becoming. He had grown increasingly wary about this hidden personality that has manifested itself to him, and all it wants is his body to help wreck more havoc to this not so innocent world; it had also mentioned something about Max's mom, and dad, which only added to his curiosity. Max had desperately wanted to remember his past, he had so many questions, but he didn't have the memories to answer them, but this 'twin' was somehow resurfacing events that he couldn't, for the life of him, remember. He could only assume his twin was slowly degrading his mind, and soul. He yawned, and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. All this thinking had him barely notice the sensation of something, or someone hugging onto him. He looked down, and saw an orange limb connecting to a very familiar fox, he had grown so quickly to love, and possibly call a... Father. Although, they've barely ever interacted something about Nick felt familiar to him. He hugged Nick's arm, and scooted closer to Nick's body, he smiled once he found a comfortable position, and felt totally safe from any sort of danger that could be lurking at night. He slowly closed his eyes until he was once again drifted into a deep slumber.

 **-That Following Morning-**

Nick yawned, as sunlight seeped into the apartment, penetrating his eyelids. "Morning Judy." Nick said, scratching his head, as he sat up on the bed.

No response.

"Judy?" Nick called out... after no response, he looked to his left, only finding the still sleeping pup. He sighed, and looked over to a digital night clock on the nightstand next to the bed, which read "9:23 A.M." He sat up from his position when he was unable to spot his long eared companion. He trudged all over the apartment looking for her, only to find her sleeping in her workstation, with her laptop still open. He leaned on the back of Judy's rolling chair, and attempted to wake the sleeping bunny. "Judy..." Nick shook Judy's shoulder. "Judy!" Nick shook her harder.

Judy groaned, and brushed Nick's paw off her shoulder. "Leave me alone..." Judy managed to slur out.

Nick chuckled. "What time did you fall asleep?" He asked.

"None of your business." Judy replied, adjusting her head.

Nick smirked, and shook his head, before proceeding to playfully dig a claw into her neck, getting a slight giggle from Judy, before she burst into a full on laughter.

"Nick STOP!" Judy laughed, as Nick took advantage of her so called " _mortal weakness."_

Nick's claw retreated, as he brought it up to the top of his muzzle and blew on it like he had just shot a gun. "Are all you bunnies this ticklish?" Nick asked, as he nuzzled the top of Judy's head.

"I hope not." Judy chuckled.

"So what were you doing?" Nick asked, looking up at the blank screen on Judy's laptop.

Judy sighed, and turned the chair around to face Nick. "I got an Email from Agent Sparks." She said, getting a shrug from Nick.

"So what?" He replied.

"So what?" Judy scoffed, before checking behind Nick to see if Max wasn't awake. "I know who did this to him." She said.

Nick chuckled. "I told you that business card you tried to throw away would come in handy."

Judy shook her head, and turned to reface her laptop. "Looks at this." Judy said, as she powered on her laptop.

"I spent countless hours doing research on a corporation called 'Biotech'." She said, as the screen lit up revealing the website she had been exploring last night. "They are mass producers of pharmaceutical goods, many that we see today in local pharmacies, and are apparently responsible for the Night Howler cure."

"Judy, I'm having trouble figuring how a corporation that possibility saved the lives of millions is responsible for Max's 'condition'." Nick said.

"Oh, that's not all." Judy said turning around to face Nick. "There are a couple of conspiracies that have been plaguing the corporation." Judy said, getting Nick's full attention.

"Go on." Nick said, as Judy began explaining.

"Well, the biggest conspiracy was that THEY were the original creators of the Night Howler serum, and they were planning on exporting it around the world to terrorist organizations, countries, and even to your local assistant mayor, but before they could do that, they needed to conduct tests first..." As Judy was explaining, she was interrupted by Nick.

"Look Carrots, we all know it was Bellwether who created the serum, heck, we even watched her associates make it with our own eyes. Nick said, crossing his arms.

"But she didn't create it, she was told HOW to create it." Judy countered.

"So you mean to tell me that Bellwether was given the recipe?" Nick replied.

"Yes, but when her attempts failed, they developed the cure to hopefully hide their involvement, and gain some sort of profit in end." Judy explained.

"How do you know all of this?" Nick asked.

"There's a video of an interview with an ex-employee posted on the internet." Judy answered.

"Well, if the FBI wanted to shut down this corporation why didn't they use the employee as evidence?" Nick said.

Judy made an uneasy expression, before she replied. "The next day after the interview, they found him in his house with his head partially removed from his body."

"Oh..." Nick said, as his ears lowered themselves behind his head.

"Yeah, and in the end, there wasn't enough evidence to prove Biotech responsible for assassination, and for developing the Night Howler serum." Judy said, which prompted a deep sigh from Nick.

"Do you know what this means Judy?" Nick said.

Judy didn't respond, but instead lowered her head, and lowered her tall ears.

"We're putting our lives in danger Judy, we are not only harboring evidence from the FBI, but we're harboring a piece of hardware that belongs to corporation that'll kill to get what they want." Nick said, as he grasped onto Judy's shoulders.

"He's not a piece of hardware." Judy snapped, as she shoved Nick's paws off of her. "He's an innocent little pup, who's just a little lost that's all."

Nick sighed. "Carrots..."

"Don't 'Carrots' me! I joined the ZPD to protect the citizens of Zootopia, and from what I can tell, Max's safety should be our number one priority." Judy yelled. Nick made a hand motion for Judy to keep her voice down, since Max was still sleeping. "Oh!" Judy blushed, as she held her paws up to her muzzle. "Sorry for the sudden outburst." Judy apologized, as she ran a paw through the top of her head in frustration. "I just want to do what's right, you know?"

Nick smiled, and embraced Judy in a tight hug. "Judy the last place I would want to be is your funeral, or for you to see my funeral."

"Nick..." Judy managed to say, before she was interrupted by Nick.

"I'll do anything to keep you safe, I'll risk my life for yours, I love you Judy, I love you with every inch of my beating heart." Nick said, as he held Judy tighter, which made breathing harder for her.

"N-Nick." Judy wheezed. "It's getting a little hard to b-breath." Judy said, but before Nick could let go, they heard a young voice call out to them.

"Are you guys okay?" The young familiar voice said.

Both Nick and Judy looked to where the voice had called out from, and saw Max standing there rubbing his eyes, as he let out a big yawn.

"Max!" Both Nick and Judy said simultaneously, as Nick let go of Judy.

"I heard yelling, so I came to see if everything was okay." Max said.

"Of course we're okay." Judy said, closing her laptop.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Nick replied afterwards.

"Oh, it's just that I got a little startled." The Max sheepishly admitted.

"Don't worry; it's okay to get a little scared sometimes." Judy said, as she sat up from her chair, and walked over to max, placing a paw on his light gray head. "How about we fill that stomach of yours. What do you say?"

"Yes, please." Max replied.

"Why don't you Nick catch up while I make breakfast; it'll help pass the time." Judy suggested.

Max's expression suddenly lit up with excitement. "Okay!" Max quickly responded, as he ran over to Nick.

Nick shook his head in disapproval. "I'm not very good at bonding." He said, as Max grabbed ahold of his paw.

"Yet you do it all the time with me." Judy smirked, crossing her arms.

"Well that's different." Nick blushed.

"Do you know any fun games?" Max interrupted.

Nick was about to respond when Judy cut in. "He sure does, hes has amassed an impressive collection of board games."

"Cool!" Max yelled, as Nick let out a big sigh. "Can you show me?" Max asked, looking up at Nick.

Nick let out another sigh before replying, "Sure why not."

"I'll go get breakfast started." Judy said, as Nick lead Max to a closet that contained his board game stash. Judy walked towards the kitchen, and opened the fridge once she got there. She grabbed a long ceramic tray that appeared to contain a dozen brown eggs.

Judy placed the ceramic egg tray next to the stove, and proceeded to dig through a cabinet looking for a pan, which she eventually found.

"But I wanna be the car!" Judy heard Max suddenly yell, which caused her to smirk.

Nick had decided to play one of his personal favorites "Monopoly". Judy had played Monopoly with Nick countless times, which she hated because Nick, being the sly fox that he is, would always find ways to make her become bankrupt, or he would just simply secretly cheat.

"Okay fine, I'll be the the hat." Nick replied. He had set up the Monopoly board on the kitchen table, and was currently handing out the fake money. "Do you know how to play the game." Nick asked.

Max made a clueless expression, and replied with a, "Yes?" Which Nick raised an eyebrow to.

"You don't know how to play do you." Nick said, which the Max reacted to sheepishly.

"No." Max said sadly.

"Don't worry, I'll teach ya." Nick smiled.

 ***KNOCK* *KNOCK***

Everyone inside the apartment perked their ears to the sound of someone knocking at the front door.

"I got it!" Judy yelled from the kitchen. Judy walked towards the front door, and peeked through the eyehole. She suddenly staggered backwards, holding in a gasp, she ran to where Nick, and Max were playing.

"Who is it Ju-" Nick was cut off by Judy quickly answering back.

"It's them! Go hide Max somewhere!" Judy yelled, she would've started to sweat if she hade the pores for it.

"Who's them?" Max asked, as Nick dragged him away.

Judy ran back to the front door, and readied herself, dusting herself off, and straightening her shirt. She unlocked the door and reached for the handle to open it open it.

"Good morning, Officer Hopps..."

* * *

 ***I DONT OWN THE RUSSIAN LULLABY***


	8. Unexpected Visitors

**-Nick & Judy-**

 **-Apartment-**

Judy nervously looked up at the two unexpected visitors at her front door. "How do you know where I live?" Judy questioned the two individuals, who were Agent Sparks, and his quiet colorful partner Agent Carter.

"May we come in?" Sparks asked, getting a firm stare from Judy. "C'mon; its the least you could do, I sent you the information as you requested." He said in his professional tone.

"It doesn't give you a reason to come to my apartment unannounced." Judy replied, crossing her arms, making sure to block as much of the door's frame as possible. "Maybe if you explain to me why you came over, and how in the world did you find out where I live."

Agent Spark sighed, and began to answer her questions. "First of all, I simply came to talk, maybe ask you a few questions. Second, we're the FBI; it wasn't really that complicated looking for you, and your 'mate'." Spark said, putting emphasis on the word "mate".

"Is there a problem?" Judy said, noticing the way Spark said "mate".

"There's no problem at all, I just find your relationship rather... Taboo." Spark replied.

Judy made a inaudible growl, she didn't trust these mammals one bit, yet she knew keeping them out would only create suspicion, and the last thing wanted was a bunch agents kicking down her door, and her losing Max.

"If I let you in, you must promise to never show up to my apartment unannounced." Judy said.

"Deal." Spark responded, making a slight smirk.

Judy moved herself to the side to allow the two agents inside. Of course, Sparks didn't hesitate to enter the mid-class apartment, while his associate followed close behind.

"Lovly place you have here Officer Hopps." Spark said, glancing at every square inch of the apartment.

"Dont touch anything." Judy warned.

Spark pretended like he didn't hear Judy's warning, and continued inspecting the apartment.

Spark took a quick sniff of the air. "Had any visitors lately besides the fox? Like any lupine visitors?" Spark asked.

Judy grew nervous at the question. "No, must be next door." Judy managed to respond calmly.

Spark acknowledged her response with a nod, as he took another quick sniff. "This scent smells rather familiar, like I've smelt this scent before." Spark said.

"Must be a coincidence." Judy replied.

"Humph, I guess you're right." Spark said, after finding no logical explanation for the scent.

Nick suddenly walked in. "Hey Judy, who's her-" Nick was locked in a gaze with Agent Spark. "Oh-"

"Hello Officer Wilde, sorry for the unexpected intrusion, I hope we didn't cause you both any trouble." Spark apologized.

"No worries, why don't you both come have a seat at the kitchen table?" Nick offered.

Sparks glanced over at his partner, Carter, who shrugged in response. "We'll be happy to have a seat. Spark replied to Nick, who led them to the only kitchen table in the apartment.

Spark noticed that a Monopoly board had been set up for two, he had assumed Nick and Judy were playing before he and Carter showed up. "I see you two were busy." Spark said, sitting down where Max was previously sitting.

"We're big fans of the game." Judy lied, remembering all those time Nick had beaten her.

Both the agents pulled out brown wooden chairs next to each other, and gently sat down on them. Spark chuckled. "I'm quite the fan myself." Spark said, as he reached for a silver looking tiny car lying just in front of him.

Nick gulped, as Spark examined the tiny metal token; it had been the one Max had been holding, he prayed Spark wouldn't pick up his scent.

"I've always liked using the car, sometimes when I was younger, I'd pretend I was actually driving it around the board." Spark suddenly said, catching Nick and Judy by surprise. "I would mimic an actual car engine." Spark added. "Time really does fly when you're having fun." Spark gently placed the car back onto the table after he had finished talking.

Nick and Judy were speechless, they never expected someone with Spark's stature to publicly express childhood memories.

Spark cleared his throat. "Sorry, I got a little carried away."

Judy was the first to respond to Spark. "It's fine; it happens to the best of us."

Spark scoffed. "Sadly; it's a trait I have the burden of carrying."

Judy became curious of Spark's response, but she knew asking would be obviously rude and the last thing she wanted was to invade his personal privacy, yet curiosity lingered in her head, mocking her.

"Alright, enough with the distractions, I came over to ask you a few questions that would hopefully help us with the capture of our little John Doe." Spark said, pulling out a mechanical pen, and notebook from inside his suit.

"I thought we were supposed to apprehend the pup." Judy said.

"Well, due to recent developments in the bureau, my boss has ordered me to become directly involved. In other words, you'll be seeing me and my partner more often." Spark replied, as he pressed down the pen causing a "click" to sound, as the inky tip emerged from the tip of the pen. "Please answer all the questions as follows..."

Both Nick and Judy readied themselves for the questions Sparks was about to tell them, and both planned to answer with false information to hopefully throw them off, and buy them some more time to solve the case that would somehow favor both the FBI and Max.

"Oh, and before we begin, I would like to inform you that lying isnt tolerated, and if any evidence were to surface revealing your following statements as false will lead to the termination of your current status in this case, as well as your jobs. Also, I'm ordered to terminate both of you from this case if I find that your responses aren't in any case useful to me, or the bureau. Do I make myself clear?" Spark said, catching Nick and Judy off guard.

"Uh, y-yeah!" Nick replied.

"Like we'll ever lie to you guys." Judy replied, faking a laugh.

Spark gave Judy a squinted glare through his sunglasses, before looking down at his notebook, pen at paw. "First question, have any of you encountered the pup in last 48 hours and if so, were?" Spark said, pen touching the notebook.

Nick and Judy secretly glanced over at each other, they had no choice to respond to the question truthfully, or they would lose the case; although, they had the opportunity to slip in some false information for Max's whereabouts.

"Yes, we were fortunate enough to stumble across the him, yet he slipped through our fingers." Judy said, while Spark glared down, and wrote something down in his notebook.

"And where exactly did you spot him?" Spark asked, glaring up only with his eyes.

"If I remember correctly Trip Street, but just to be on the safe side, I'd expand your search to Hill Street.

Spark looked back down at his notebook, and once again wrote down something.

"Alright, next question..."

Max was shrouded in darkness, he could hear the faint sounds of a conversation be carried out from the kitchen, or somewhere close by. He had been dragged into the restroom by Nick, and hidden inside the worst place possible... A bathtub, and left alone without any lights, or explanation. He was told that he needed to stay extra extra quiet, and to stay inside the bathroom, and if he did Nick would take him out for ice cream.

After a few minutes of standing in darkness, Max grew extremely impatient, and was itching to take a peek outside the bathroom door, which he did. Max carefully rolled back a white certain, and stepped out almost tripping as he did so, he was now going against direct orders, and was possibly facing a court-martial, but he desperately wanted to quench his boredom.

Max tip-toed over to the bathroom door. Once there, he reached for the doorknob, and carefully twisted it, until he was able to quietly open the door. Once the door had been opened, he let go of the door knob, and stuck his nose outside first, taking a quick sniff of the air, catching the scent of two other mammals, before sticking his entire head out to take a look.

"I think we're just about finished..."

Max turned his head towards the dining room, and was able to get a good view of the dining table. He could clearly see two suited individuals sitting with their backs turned towards him with Nick and Judy sitting just across from them.

Nick quickly glanced over to the bathroom's general direction, and back up to the agents, before quickly glancing back towards the bathroom when he spotted Max's head peeping over towards the table. Max smiled at Nick, who in return made a face expression that read _"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"_

"Is there something wrong Officer Wilde?" Spark asked.

Nick dropped his expression, and looked over to Spark. "No, nothing at all." Nick said, laughing nervously.

Max's happy expression suddenly dropped too after Spark had spoken... He knew that voice, and it wasn't a pleasant one. Max was suddenly hit with a flashback, which appeared to have Spark standing at the end of an alleyway calling out to him, while he scavenged for food and water, and identifying himself as, _"No-one but your only friend."_

Spark raised an eyebrow after Nick's response. "Well, I think my job here is done here... Sorry to ask, but may I use your restroom?" Spark asked, closing his notebook, and placing it inside his suit.

Both Nick and Judy responded with different answers with Nick replying, "No!" and Judy replying, "Of course."

Everyone glanced over to Nick, who faked a coughed. "Sorry, I meant to say yes."

"Uh, thanks." Spark replied, standing up from his chair. Nick looked over towards the restroom, and saw that Max was no longer peeping out, and that door to the bathroom had been closed.

Max quickly hopped into the bathtub, and was barely able to close the curtains before Spark entered the bathroom. Spark flipped on the lights, which blinded the pup, since his eyes had adapted to the darkness, and locked the bathroom door. He let out a big sigh, before he began talking to himself. "Goddammit Sparky! Why do you keep saying your damn memories out loud!" Spark smacked himself on the head. "Ugh, time to call my least favorite person, Mr. Loudmouth."

Max covered his muzzle to help muffle his breathing, as he listened in on Spark, who dug into his pocket, pulling out a smartphone in the process, before dialing a phone number. After a few seconds of ringing someone answered him. "Sir, its Sparks..." Spark leaned against the bathroom sink, and placed a paw over his forehead, while he kept the phone up to his ear with his other. "Have I done what you've told me? Yes, I did... No, I decided to let them keep it... Sir... Sir, there's no need to swear... Sir... Sir, you told me to decide... No, there aren't any metal rods here..." Spark sighed once more. "Look, if you're really that pissed about this, we'll talk once I get back to the office... Okay, bye."

Spark placed his phone back into his pocket and ran both his paws over the top of his head in frustration, as he turned to face the bathroom faucet.

Max slowly pulled back the white curtain, and peeped outside the bathtub to catch Spark in the process of removing his sunglasses, and turning on the faucet, hunching foward so he could splash water on his face. Max noticed how Spark kept his eyes shut when he removed his sunglasses, even when he searched for a towel to dry off his soaked face, which he found rather strange and unusual.

Spark placed his sunglasses back on over his eyes, and looked up at the mirror. "I could really use a drink right about now." He said to himself, as he flushed the toilet to make it seem like he had actually used it, before exiting the bathroom, turning off the lights and closing the door behind him.

The husky walked over to the table to catch Carter starring at the two Officers with a cold blank emotionless expression, getting uncomfortable stares back from them.

Spark tapped Carter on the back. "Stop scaring our friends Carter." Spark said, which caused a slight smirk to from to form on the side of Carter's mouth. "Well, we'll be on our way then. Thanks once again for letting me borrow your bathroom." Spark said, walking himself towards the front door, followed closely by Carter.

Judy ran ahead of the two agents, and opened the door for them. "It was a pleasure." Judy said.

"I'll be seeing you both on the field... Keep up the good work." Spark said, stepping outside the apartment.

Just before Judy could close the door the apartment, Spark stopped her by blocking the door with a paw. "Oh, and have a good day." Spark smiled dropping his paw, and walking away with Carter.

Judy quickly closed the door, and took in a sigh of relief. "I though they've never leave!" Judy smiled. She noticed that Nick ran off towards the bathroom. "Nick?" Judy called out.

Nick opened the bathroom door, and turned on the lights. He threw the curtains open, and was relieved to see Max standing there looking up at him with a concerned expression.

"Are they gone?" Max whispered to Nick.

"Yes, they are." Nick smiled.

Max's expression quickly changed to that of glee, as he hopped out of the bathtub and wrapped his arms around the red fox. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you!" Max apologized.

Nick patted Max's head. "It's okay, just please promise me you won't do that again."

Max looked up at Nick, and rapidly nodded his head in confirmation. "I promise, I will never EVER do that again." Max said.

"Thank you Max." Nick smiled.

Max looked up at Nick once again. "Can we still go get ice cream?" He asked. Nick sort of hesitated, but Max began making pup eyes, as he eyes widened, and he lowered his ears. Nick couldn't help himself but respond with a, "Yes."

"Alright!" Max cheered.

"Aww, look at you Nick, you're a natural at being a dad." Came Judy's voice.

Nick turned his head to see Judy leaning against the doorframe leading into the bathroom.

"Don't ever say that again." Nick warned.

"What? That you're a natural father?" Judy playful responded.

"You're lucky I've got my paws full." Nick chuckled, as he tried to pry Max off of him.

"I should consider myself lucky then." Judy replied, walking over to her two most important predators in the world.

"We need to discuss how we're gonna play this out Judy. Today was too close of a call." Nick said in seriousness.

Judy sighed. "I know, and now our jobs are on the line."

Max interrupted the couple by calling out Nick. "Nick, can we still play Monopoly?" He asked, hoping to get a positive response.

Nick shifted his attention to Max, and nodded his head. "Sure, I'll be over in a second."

"Okay!" Max let go of Nick and ran out of the bathroom, leaving the two Officer alone.

"I we'll discuss after a game of Monopoly." Nick said.

"Nah, its best that we wait until night when Max is asleep." Judy replied. There was a minute of silence between the two, until Nick decided to break the ice.

"How about you play a game of Monopoly with?" Nick suggested.

Judy shook her head. "No, I'll just end up losing to you again."

Nick rolled his eyes. "C'mon, it'll be fun! I promise I won't cheat, AND I promise to cook dinner for the week if you win. So, what do you say?" Nick said extending a paw towards Judy.

Judy placed her paws on her hips, and thought for a minute, before shrugging.

"You're on!" Judy said reaching for Nick's paw, shaking it.

* * *

 **Well! There's another chapter for ya! Sorry for the late Easter gift, I hope y'all don't hang me upside down for this.**

 **Please leave behind some constructive criticism if you have the spare time! I need to feed off y'alls criticism, I'm starving!**

 **Check back soon for any new chapters! Have a fantastic day, and happy late Easter!**


	9. Ice Cream Parlor

**-Biotech Labs-**

 **-Unknown Location-**

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of incompetent fools! They don't understand the true revolutionary idea of my sweet creation."

A husky wearing a lab coat walked through a set of double doors into a lit up white room. He was carrying a vanilla folder in his right paw while carrying a glass vile filled with a glowing purple liquid in the other. "I'm just working with a bunch of money hungry psychopaths," the husky sighed. "I suppose it's the price I have to pay to earn the proper funding and for having those vicious, blood-thirsty psychopaths get me fresh young specimens." He said, throwing the folder onto a nicely shined operation table. He brought the glass vile up to his eye level and examined it intently; fixated by it's glowing contents. "I wonder..." He said, looking over to a collection of medical supplies, and instruments laying on a table just a few feet away from him. He fixed his eyes on an empty syringe laying motionless on a stainless steel tray, he moved his eyes downward, lifting up his right paw in the process, he opened up his right paw and stared at it with immense curiosity. After a few minutes of thought, he closed his paw forming a tight fist, he turned and walked over towards the syringe with the vile still at paw. "I'll show him who's place, I'll show them all..." But just as he was reaching for the syringe, he heard someone knock on the set of double doors he had recently barged through.

"Doctor, the new batch of test subjects you've requested have just arrived." A male voice said. The brown husky turned and faced the direction of the voice. A fellow scientist, who was a deer, had knocked on the door and peeked only his head through the doors.

"Excellent, have we had any progress on the capture of 986?" The husky said, glancing over at his colleague's location.

"No, sir." The deer replied, getting a upsetting sigh from the brown husky:

"I'll be right out. Give me a couple of minutes." The husky said, followed by the deer nodding his head, leaving brown husky alone to his own thoughts. "There's no other perfect candidate... But I'd rather not let them suffer being orphans, whose parents were murdered without hesitation or grief, with their voices silenced and their pleads tossed off with wind." The doctor said coldly, leaving the syringe alone. He walked over the last place he left his clipboard, but before he picked it up, he quickly straightened his lab coat and adjusted his spectacles before picking it up and walking towards the same set of double doors he entered through. "I've destroyed countless lives to just simply enhance the predator's gene; to simply EVOLVE it, yet I let my own creation, MY only prime example of THE perfect predator slip through my fingers." He sighed and straightened his posture before stepping outside the door.

"Until then, others will have to suffer the same fate as every other unworthy candidate..."

 **-Nick & Max-**

"Here we are! 'Billy's Ice Cream Parlor'." Nick said, as Max gazed upon a beautiful pink bricked building with a huge ice cream sign just above the stores front entrance. It was around 3:45 in the afternoon, Nick had to unfortunately live up to his promise take Max out for ice cream even if he did go against direct orders. But after their close encounter with Spark and his silent goon, he thought it'd be a good opportunity to calm his nerves and maybe get to know Max a little. Although, Judy had lost her side of deal, she was in charge of making dinner but Nick, being the nice fox that he is, promised Judy he'd here give her tomorrow off, offerings to take care of Max for the whole day so she could go out to do whatever bunnies do in their free-time.

"I've never been inside before." Max said, remembering all the times he was shooed away by employees because he was homeless and probably because he smelt really bad, but now they had no reason to shoo him away, he has a responsible adult to cover for him, plus he doesn't have a putrid smell anymore. "What does ice cream even taste like?" Max asked, as Nick held open the entrance door for Max to pass through.

"Hmmm, I think its best if you'd figured it out for yourself." Nick chuckled. The parlor itself was built to service medium sized mammals or slightly smaller mammals, which suited both Nick and Max perfectly. "In fact, I'll buy you the 'Triple Threat'." Nick grinned slightly.

Nick and Max took to the back of line; waiting behind a decent sized line consisting of six other mammals. Max made sure to stay close to Nick, he watched as mammals licked away at their sweet icy treats each having different colored scoops like pink, dark brown, and a whitish colored scoop, but some other mammals had what looked like colored ice on small wooden sticks which were mainly red, blue, green, and purple. Max looked down the line and noticed the line had moved down three mammals.

"We're almost there." Nick said walking forward a bit as another mammal received their frozen treat of choice. Nick planned on buying himself a simple popsicle since he really just came to buy Max something.

It was finally Nick's turn to order, he walked up to the register and saw a beautiful blue-eyed female cheetah working the register. "Hi! Welcome to Billy's Ice Cream Parlor. What can get you?" The female cashier said. She looked down at Max, and gasped. "Who's this beautiful little pup?" She reached down and pinched Max's cheek. Max blushed and hid behind Nick. "You remind me of my son Tyler." She chuckled, looking up at Nick. "Oops, I'm sorry, sir. I got a little carried away." She said, clearing her throat. "What can I get you two?"

"Don't worry about it, and can I get one Triple Threat for little Max here," Nick said, patting Max on the head. "And a red popsicle for me." Nick replied, getting a wide eye response from the female cheetah.

"Woah, are you sure he can handle the Triple Threat?" She said raising an eyebrow.

"Little Max here can handle anything. Right?" Nick said turning his head to face Max, who nodded in response. The female cheetah laughed and placed the order into the register.

"That'll be $5.99." She said. Nick reached into his right pocket and pulled out a brown wallet, taking out the exact amount of money asked of him.

"You know, you're lucky to have a father who has time to spend with you," she said, taking the money from Nick. "My son rarely spends any time with his father, since his father is always working."

"Oh, he isn't my son." Nick quickly corrected.

The female cheetah gasped, and covered her mouth in surprise. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were his stepfather or something." She quickly apologized.

"Its alright." Nick shrugged the misunderstanding off. "Where does your husband work? If you don't mind me asking." Nick asked, hoping to pass a little time while the employees in the back prepared Max's Triple Threat ice cream.

"He works for the government," shortly after an employee handed her a ice cream cone with three different scoops one being vanilla, the other being chocolate, and the last was strawberry, garnished with a little bit of rainbow sprinkles, and a bright red cherry on top. "Here's your Triple Threat." She said, handing the large cone to Nick, who handed it down to Max. "And your popsicle."

"Thanks, Ms?" Nick said, waiting for the female cheetah to respond with a name.

"Just call me Allison." She giggled.

"Well thank you Allison." He said, leaving with Max, who had already been licking the tall ice cream cone, towards an open table. "What do you think?" Nick asked.

"It's really cold, but it tastes SO good!" Max replied, as he continued licking the ice cream.

"I'm glad you like it." Nick said, making a low sigh afterwards. "My mom used to bring me here all the time."

Max tilted his head in confusion when he noticed Nick was frowning and was instead staring at his wrapped popsicle instead of eating it. "Why are you sad." He asked.

Nick let out another sigh. "I haven't been here since I was a pup, I never thought I'd be back here again."

"How come?" Max replied, curious as to why Nick never returned to this place since he was a pup.

"Well, I don't really like to mention this to anyone but when I was 10, my mother had gotten really sick and I was really scared for her, so she promised to take me here to make me feel better, but...," Nick paused, and wiped a little tear that was beginning to form in one of his eyes. "She wasn't able to fulfill her promise."

Max lowered his head in silence, he understood exactly what he meant by his mother not fulfilling her promise, he never knew how it felt to lose a parent or someone really close to him, but despite not knowing these he still felt his sadness.

Nick noticed that his story had saddened Max, which slowly formed a smile on his muzzle. "Don't feel bad Max, it happened a long time ago and besides, I feel like I've fulfilled her promise by bringing you here." He said.

Max lifted his head. "Really?"

"Yeah, now eat your ice cream before it melts." Nick said, pointing at Max's Triple Threat.

Max began licking the ice cream which sent him into a trance. Nick chuckled and unwrapped his popsicle so he could begin licking his eating it. He watched as ice cream dripped from Max's ice cream cone, which dirtied his paws. He also managed to get ice cream all over his muzzle in the process.

"Slow down, you're getting ice cream all over yourself." Nick said, but Max ignored him and continued on with his licking spree. Nick sighed and stood up from his chair. "I'll go get us some napkins. Stay here." He said, walking off to collect some napkins. Like before, Max had completely ignored Nick since he was so mesmerized by the delicious frozen treat, but his fixation was suddenly broken when he noticed something interesting in the corner of his eye... Something he couldn't help but approach.

Nick had located a container that distributed white colored napkins at a nearby counter, he collected a good amount of napkins before turning to walk back towards his and Max's table, but he lowered his ears when he turned. The ice cream parlor had suddenly entered rush hour and what seemed like hundreds of customers blocked his path back to Max. "Oh no..." Nick groaned. He slowly walked forward into the crowd, he felt himself being pushed around once he entered the crowd.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" A male tiger snarled, as Nick was shoved into him.

"S-Sorry, sir!" Nick quickly apologized, before he was once again shoved into another mammal.

"What the hell man!" The mammal yelled at Nick.

"Sorry." Nick apologized once again but fortunately, after what seemed like an eternity of constant shoving and apologizing, he had finally made it out of the crowd. He was finally able to spot his table, but Nick's eyes widened when he did, he dropped both his popsicle and the napkins. "Max..." He said in a low tone, as the seat that held Max was now empty and he was nowhere in sight. "Max!" Nick yelled, running over to the table. He looked all over the table even checking underneath the chairs. "No, no, no, NO! Judy is going to kill me!" Nick said, placing both of his paws on his head as he panicked. But there a glimmer of hope, just a few inches away the table was a trail of melted ice cream droplets. Nick quickly followed the trail, which led back into the large crowd. He groaned in annoyance but he readied himself nevertheless, he wasn't gonna leave without Max.

Nick charged through the crowd following the trail as he was once again pushed and shoved around, he ignored all the angry insults made towards him and kept pushing through, before he tripped on someone's foot, which was followed by him landing face first into a large clearing. He let out a pain filled groan, as he slowly lifted himself up onto his two feet, dusting himself off afterwards, but what he saw next sent a stream of relief throughout his body. He watched as Max stood quietly staring up at a colorful vintage 1950's Wurlitzer Jukebox, which the parlor had probably kept for generations, while he held his ice cream cone with both of his paws, slowly licking it as he stared up at the old Jukebox.

Nick was baffled by Max's strange behavior. "Max?" He said trying to get his attention, but Max just ignored him. Nick slowly approached Max, placing a paw on one of his shoulders once he was close enough to him. "Max? Are you alright?" Nick asked.

Max turned his head to look up at Nick. "Can I have a nickel?" Max replied, which caught Nick completely by surprise, since the response was completely out of the blue.

"Uhhh, sure?" Nick said, reaching into his pocket for his wallet, he opened it and located a single nickel, which he extended towards Max. He took the nickel from Nick and handed him his melting ice cream cone in exchange, which Nick held with disgust, and watched as Max walked up the the jukebox and was barely able to reach the coin slot, which he inserted the nickel into.

Nick watched as Max did his thing, he was surprised Max knew how to operate a 1950's jukebox even he didn't know how to operate one. Max hovered a finger over each of the buttons. He stopped his once his finger came over a button with the name "The Shells - Oh Baby Oh" worded to it's right. Max pressed the button and he backed away from the jukebox and watched as it automatically selected the record and automatically moved it to a built in record player.

As the song began to play, Max stood silently listening. He didn't know what he just did, or how he did it, yet he knew; he knew how to operate this colorful device as if he was once told how to by someone or something. But as he slowly bobbed his head to the rhythm he slowly closed his eyes and imagined a shadowy couple dancing along a wooden floor constantly maintaining direct eye contact with each other; although strangely enough, it sort of almost felt like a dream or a memory.

Nick slowly walked up behind Max and lightly grasped onto his shoulder with his clean paw. Max flinched to the sudden feeling of contact. "Where did you learn that?" Nick smiled. Max shrugged in response. "Do you still want your ice cream?" Nick asked, as he held the frozen sugary treat in front of Max, who grabbed it and continued taking small licks from it. Nick chuckled and lead Max away from the jukebox and back to their table, but this time Nick decided to politely go through the large crowd, which turned out to be more effective than forcing himself through.

Nick let out an angry groan when he saw that his table had been taken by another family and that every other table was taken as well. He sighed and looked down at Max. "What do you say we head back home?"

Max frowned, "Awww, I was hoping we could stay a little longer."

"Don't worry, we'll come back soon. I promise." Nick assured.

Max's expression quickly lit up with Nick's assurance. "Thank you so much!" Max said, giving Nick a quick hug, which left Nick with a few stains on his clothing.

Nick smiled and patted Max on the head. "You're very welcome."

 **-Biotech Labs-**

 **-Unkown Location-**

The black suited male brown bear that had been recognized as the Director of the Biotech Corporation was quietly observing the brown husky that he had come to call "Doctor" and appointed lead scientist of Project Tanzanite and Biotech's labs. He watched the doctor through a glass window, as he the tied down sobbing child, a predator, and quietly sent them to their ultimate demise. Silence quickly approached, as the young predator's body unfortunately rejected NH-79 resulting in a quick painful death.

A male figure, with a silhouette of a wolf wearing a black BDU, quietly stepped next to the huge brown bear, and stood watching as another child was dragged into the room. The Director sensed the figure's presence, but continued watching through the glass window. The figure let out a low sigh. "Has the great and powerful Holt come to marvel at his spendings?" The figure said in an extremely deep Russian accent.

The bear chuckled. "My nose once again fails to disappoint me. How's the eye Felix?"

The wolf crossed his arms. "Unscathed, although that little brat can really pack a punch."

The newly named, "Director Holt" turned his head to face the wolf standing next to him, who turned out to be the exact same male arctic wolf Max came across during his short lunch-in at the sandwich hut. "Has the mighty Feliks Novikov, the leader of our fierce security forces finally found his match?" Holt mocked.

The snow-white wolf named Felix closed his one golden eye and chuckled deeply. He glanced over to Director Holt, revealing the a black eyepatch strapped around his head covering his right eye. "I never said a child could be beat me," Felix lifted his right paw up to his head and tapped his head with his index finger. "What I know and have up here is enough to drive any sane mammal insane, I should be considered the most dangerous mammal in existence, I could kill a savage tiger with my bare paws." He said, bringing his arm back down to recross it with his other arm. "That little shit's time will come soon enough, and I'll be there to greet him when it does."

"Save your energy, we need him alive. Besides, I've been wanting to discuss the recent efforts done by the government to shut us down. Fortunately, one of my teams was able to aquire some 'interesting' information about one of the agents assigned on taking us down," Holt made an evil chuckle before continuing. "I believe you'd be quite interested in this new assignment."

Felix grinned. "Just tell me what to do."

Holt grinned as well. "Excellent..."

* * *

 **It's finally summer! And I'm back with another chapter! I've been working on continuing my State of Decay/Zootopia crossover if anyone is interested in partaking in it please feel free to let me know.**

 **Please feel free to drop a comment on your way out and stay safe during y'alls summer.**

 **Peace!**


	10. Friendly Chat

_**"...Your time is running out..."**_

 **-City of Zootopia-**

 **-Judy-**

It had been a whole day since Judy lost her bet to Nick, and she was finally getting the break she so rightfully deserved, since Nick, being the sweetheart that he is, offered to take responsibility over Max for the whole entire day, which had actually surprised her because, Nick never wanted to be involved with Max or this whole mess in the first place and because he's just lazy in general. But despite that, she's noticed that he's been slowly growing rather attached to Max even though he could possibly destroy their lives.

Judy decided she'd start her "day off" with some coffee from one her most beloved cafés, SnarlBucks, which is currently considered one of Zootopia's most top-rated café chains.

"Welcome to SnarlBucks!"

Upon Judy's entrance, she was greeted by all the employees behind the register welcoming her followed by the smell of fresh coffee and pastries that were currently invading her pink nose. She let out a big satisfying sigh, as she walked up to the register. Judy had always been a fan of coffee especially SnarlBuck even if it was rather expensive, yet she has always been willing to buy their cappuccinos and freshly baked carrot cakes.

Judy placed an order to the cashier for a small mug of cappuccino and a slice of their delectable carrot cake. After she paid her due and, she went on to look for a table to take for herself, and once she found an unoccupied table; it was a little big for her side, but she made do. After making herself cozy on one of the nicely polished wooden chair and waited patiently for her cappuccino to be brought to her. Judy suddenly smiled at the thought of finally having a day all to herself, she had made a mental list of all the things she was planning on doing today. Judy had also recently received a call from Chief Bogo asking why both her and Nick haven't showed up to work in several days, she had simply stated to him, that she was going through a recent loss of a loved one, and that she was going to take several more days off to recover from her grieving, which Nick was helping with as well. Fortunately, Bogo had bought her lie and allowed Judy take as long as she needed to recuperate from her "loss".

After several long minutes of waiting for her order, Judy pulled out her smartphone, which she turned on, followed by her entering her password, and opening up the phones built in search browser. She searched for "Biotech" and came across multiple links leading to different news articles and conspiracies relating to either the corporation's involvement in creating the cure to Night Howler serum, and or their supposed role of being the original creators of the Night Howler serum. But in the end all the conspiracies ultimately state how Biotech supposedly used Assistant Mayor Bellwether to cause a Night Howler epidemic, so they could profit off their cure.

Judy hated the fact that money controls how the world works and how some mammals, or might she say "corporations" like "Biotech" possibly cause unspeakable acts of crime just to get their filthy paws on cash. She has made it her ultimate goal to bring down that evil corporation, while keeping little Max safe from them and the government, and she was certain she could do better job than they ever could.

While Judy continued scrolling through her phone, she noticed someone place down a white mug with the SnarlBucks green logo followed by that someone placing down a small white plate carrying her small carrot cake. She turned her head away from her electronic device to thank the employee for bringing her order, but upon glancing over at the "employee" she was caught completely by surprise at what she saw, as she slowly moved her eyes up to look at the figures face. She saw Kaki colored tactical pants followed by a black duty belt complete with a handcuff pouch, empty holster, ammunition pouches (presumably empty), a badge, and finally a tucked in navy blue shirt with the letters "FBI" printed on the upper left side of the shirt.

"Officer Hopps! I couldn't help but notice you sitting all by you're lonesome." Came Agent Spark's somber toned voice in response to Judy's eyes finally reaching his face. "Mind if I have a seat?" He asked hoping to occupy the chair just across from her.

"Uh, n-" Judy was stopped mid-protest by Agent Sparks occupying the seat without fully allowing her to give proper consent.

"Thanks." Sparks said, crossing his paws on the table, "So, do you come here often?" He asked.

"No, and can you please leave my table?" Judy said, giving Sparks an annoyed expression, while she montioned for him to shoo away.

Spark let out a chuckle and pretended like she hadn't asked him to leave. "Well, I'm quite the regular here, I always grab a cup of Joe, before I head to the office."

"You aren't going to leave are you?" Judy sighed.

"Is it really that obvious?" Spark chuckled, now laying back on his chair.

Judy to let out a chuckle, as she reached for her mug full of cappuccino coffee. "Look, if I find out you're following me, or Nick, we're gonna have a serious problem."

"Following?" Spark Scoffed, "Aren't we supposed to be collaborating together as a team in solving this case?"

"Yeah, but I've heard what the FBI does to its collaborators, always keeping constant tabs on them."

"Hey, I would never keep 'tabs' on you, or your partner." Spark said, with a false sense of shock in his voice.

Just scoffed, "Whatever," Judy took a sip from her mug before placing it back down onto the table. "I've also noticed that, you're in a surprisingly good mood today."

"How can you tell?" Spark smirked.

Judy tapped her chin as she thought of all the reasons why he'd appeared to be in a good mood. "Well, you were rude by taking the chair just across from without my full permission. You completely ignored my first question. And you're refusing to leave my table, which in all is very unprofessional of you."

"Well, what can I say? Thanks to you," Spark pointed towards Judy. "We've come a step closer to obtaining our key piece of evidence."

Judy waved a paw in recognition. "As long as it helps in shutting these guys down, me and Nick are always happy to assist you and the bureau." Judy snickered mentally at her lie.

Spark smiled, "Glad to hear it." After Spark had replied there was an awkward silence between them both.

"So, do you have somewhere else to be besides here?" Judy asked, breaking the silence.

"Uh," Spark lifted his wrist so his palm was facing him and checked his expensive looking fiery tinted watch. "Not for the next hour or so." He replied, placing his wrist back onto the table.

Judy let out a deep sigh, as both predator and prey stared blankly at each-other. She had caught herself staring into his dark sunglasses and thought how strange it was for him to be wearing his heavily tinted sunglasses indoors and had decided to question him about it. "Why don't you take off your sunglasses?" Judy asked.

"What?" Spark replied, caught off guard by the question.

"Your sunglasses, why don't you take them off?" Judy repeated her question.

Spark appeared to grow a little distressed towards the question and clearly seemed hesitant towards answering it. "Well, err, I um like the way they look?" He shrugged. Judy made an inaudible thoughtful "hmm" as she scratched her chin.

"Well, can you take them off?" Judy asked, this time appearing to have hit a sensitive nerve.

"NO!" Spark barked almost immediately in response, he quickly noticed that the entire café had dropped dead silent, and everyone inside was staring directly at him. Spark coughed and brushed his shirt off. "Sorry for my little outburst, Officer Hopps, but I would rather you divert any questions relating to my 'cosmetic' likings."

Judy scoffed, "So what? You can interrogate me with questions that could practically cost me my job, but you won't answer my questions."

"Its-" Spark thought for a minute. "Its a personal question you're asking me, and I don't feel comfortable responding to it."

"Fine..." Judy groaned before noticing a certain "colorful" someone was missing. "Where's your partner?" She asked.

"Carter? He probably down at the bureau getting everything set up for our search." Spark replied.

Judy nodded her head to Spark's reply, as another question began to linger in her head, which she planned to ask of course. "Why doesn't he ever talk?" She asked.

Spark remained quiet for a second, he seemed visibly hesitant towards answering. Spark let out a deep sigh, as he shook and lowered his head, "I'd rather not say."

"How's the FBI?" Judy suddenly asked.

Spark glanced up at Judy and raised an eyebrow underneath his sunglasses, "My job?" Spark replied visibly confused.

"Yeah."

"Well, it's a good paying job, I've been working for them for over 8 years, and I have the pleasure of working with the crappiest boss the world has ever known." Spark sighed, as he mentioned the word "boss".

Judy let out a light chuckle, as she broke off a piece of her carrot cake with her fingers before consuming it.

"What's so funny?" Spark questioned.

"No, it's just that I never expected there to be a jerk above the jerk." Judy replied.

"Yeah well, he's like nothing you've seen before. And trust me when I say this, but he's one mammal you never want to have as a superior, since he has a tendency to curse in every one of his spoken sentences." Spark said, getting a good laugh out of Judy. "Seriously, he's probably invented half of the insults he uses on me."

"You're probably right, I hope I never meet him." Judy replied.

"Yeah," Spark chuckled.

Judy was beginning to notice how Sparks was growing increasingly comfortable speaking to her, which in all sorta creeped her out, but as long as their little conversation kept him oblivious to Max's true location, she didn't care. But she was curious if he'd be willing to answer some of her more mind lingering questions; like questions giving her more insight on possibly classified files on Biotech and or what the government might do if they were to take Max from her and Nick.

"Is it possible if you could tell me more about the Biotech Corporation that I won't find anywhere else?" Judy asked, locking her fingers together underneath the table, as she anxiously waited for a positive reply.

Spark smirked, "Like what?" He replied.

"Anything." Judy quickly replied.

"I hope you're not asking for information on classified documents and or files." Spark replied.

"Please?" Judy replied sheepishly.

Spark rolled his eyes underneath his shades, and proceeded to lean in closer to Judy. "Just because I fear for you and your partners safety, I'll let you in on a certain profiled individual-" Before Spark could continue, he was interrupted by Judy.

"Why would we have to fear for our lives?" Judy asked.

"Because we're messing with a rich and powerful corporation that, from what I can tell, has the ability to 'silence' anyone who they deem to be a threat to their business." Spark replied, which Judy had responded with a simple nod of acknowledgement. "Alright, like I was saying, this individual appears to be affiliated with the corporation and has reportedly been spotted conducting major operations ordered out by Biotech with unreported crimes which include, but limited to kidnapping, third-degree murder, Arson, and grand theft auto." At this time, Spark reached into his pants right pocket pulling out a black encased smart phone. "It took us serval months to properly ID this individual," Spark slid his phone over to Judy, which was displaying a picture on it's screen.

Judy picked it up and looked at the provided photograph, which appeared to be a low quality view from a CCTV camera onto a parking lot belonging to either a convenience store or restaurant, but what caught her eye was a small group of militarized individuals, who were in the process of walking off camera. They appeared to be wearing black clothing, everyone of the Individuals were staring away from the camera except for a single male looking white arctic wolf, who was starring up at the camera with his right eye, since his his left eye appeared to be cover with an eyepatc and had a black bandanna covering everything from his nose down to his neck. He was shown holding a pistol to the bagged head of an unidentified individual.

"This is our only clear photograph of, Feliks Novikov. A male arctic wolf, who is also an Ex-Russian Spetsnaz operative. If Biotech wanted any of us dead, they'd probably send him." Spark said in a stone cold voice.

"Why haven't you caught him yet?" Judy questioned, sliding Spark's phone back over to him.

"Because, we don't know where he is, and he doesn't exist on any database known to us, we were fortunate enough to get what information we could about this wolf." Spark replied. "If I were you, I'd focus on keeping this information secret, unless you want this wolf to come breaking down your door."

Judy nodded her head, and crossed her heart. "I promise, I'll even keep our little discussion a secret." Judy replied.

Sparked chuckled, "Good girl." There was a sudden low pitched beeping comings from Spark's watch. "Looks like my time is up." Spark said, as he checked his watch. He stood up and pushed in his chair. "Looks like I'll be seeing you soon, Officer Hopps." He said.

"Yeah, see you soon...(Not)" Judy replied, waving goodbye to the agent, as he left the café. "Feliks Novikov." Judy repeated the name.

"Feliks Novikov."


	11. Night's Hunters

_**"...They remain in the shadows hunting without remorse..."**_

 **- Zootopian Suburbs-**

 **-...-**

Midnight had yet again dawned upon the malevolent city of animals and yet the streets were nonetheless still bustling with life, but far from the ever so bright skyscrapers in a quiet neighborhood inside a lit up two-story suburban home, a lone cheetah cub could be seen kneeling on a small sized bed, while gazing out a window. The cub was hypnotized by the city's dazzling lights and with his curious blue eyes moving from the streams of hundreds of moving cars to the numerous airplanes passing over the city, he watched as spotlights appeared to manifest off the roofs of multiple skyscrapers and die out upon reaching for the darkened sky above.

There was a low knocking coming from behind the male cub, he turned and was met with the warm face of his smiling mother peaking through his door, "Tyler honey, it's time for bed." She said. The cub frowned and made puppy eyes towards his mother. Her blue eyes locked with his, as she let out a slight chuckle. "Tyler, you know that doesn't work on me."

"But mom..." The cub whined.

"No buts mister, it's late." She replied.

The cub known as Tyler frowned and lowered his head in dismay, he didn't want to go to sleep despite it being way past his bedtime, but like all juvenile animals he wanted to explore, he wanted to experience something new and different and he so desperately wanted to explore the utopia just beyond his window.

The female cheetah rolled her eyes and walked up next to her son's tiny bed and sat down on the edge just next to him and watched as he quickly moved into her welcoming arms. Her pink styled uniform emitted a delightful sugary scent that filled only the little cubs nostrils. "When is dad coming home?" He asked, glancing up at his mothers face.

She sighed and tightly wrapped her arm around Tyler, "Daddy is very busy, but I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"Why doesn't he take us to the city with him?" Tyler asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Because then who'd take of-" The female cheetah reached for a stuffed animal laying comfortably on one of the pillows and brought it down to Tyler's saddened face. "Mister Speedy." She said, as she shook the stuffed cheetah in front of Tyler. He giggled and grabbed "Speedy" the stuffed cheetah and brought him into a tight embrace.

"We could bring him with us." Tyler suggested.

The female cheetah chuckled, "Trust me, Speedy likes it more here than the city."

"But Speedy misses daddy too." Tyler said.

"I bet he does, but I know what'll cheer you two right up."

"What?" Tyler asked.

"A bedtime story." Tyler's mom replied.

A smile grew on Tyler's muzzle to his mothers response and replied with a loud "Yay!".

"Let's get you nice and tucked in first." Tyler's mom said, as she stood up to allow the little cheetah to cover himself with his bedsheets. She tucked him in until he was nice and snug before sitting back down on the small childish bed. Tyler had personally designed his bed with blue bedsheets that has miniature red cars sewed on all over it's surface. "So what story shall I read you on this fine night?" She said, clapping her paws together. Tyler thought long and hard before coming to a decision.

"Can you me the story about the-"

 ***THUMP***

Tyler was unable to finish his sentence due to a loud thumping coming from the house's front door, his mom hushed him and was about to quietly leave the childish room to go investigate, but was stopped by Tyler saying, "who is it, mommy?"

"I don't know, just stay quiet." She replied, exiting the room leaving Tyler alone with his trusty stuffed animal, Mister Speedy, which he clung tightly onto. Since the house was a two-story, Tyler's mom needed to walk down a set of stairs to get to the front door, but that required a short venture down a hallway that had four doors with two being bedrooms and the other two being a guest room and a bathroom. As the female cheetah was making her way down the stairs the power to the house had suddenly gone out, leaving her in complete and utter darkness and stranded halfway down the stair.

"Mom!?" Tyler called from his room.

Tyler's Mom looked back and yelled, "everything is alright, honey! Just stay in bed." She slowly continued her way down the stairs and was fortunate enough not to trip down the rest of the steps. Another loud thud came front the front door and whoever it was meant business. She quickly made her past her living room and hid behind a sofa that was a few feet away from the front door, she slowly glanced at the door and noticed multiple dark figures standing just beyond the door's transparent window.

 ***THUMP THUMP THUMP***

The female cheetah had glanced away from the door and had begun to panic. She knew whoever is behind the front door to her house wasn't your average friendly neighborhood neighbors asking for sugar. Oh no, they wanted in and she knew it. The best course of action that she had decided upon was to call the police, so she reached for her pockets for her cellphone. Unfortunately, upon reaching into her pockets she was unable to locate her phone, she swore under breath and remembered how she put it on her nightstand next to her bed. Fortunately, she remembered the home phone located in the kitchen and quietly made her way towards it, as the unknown figures continued banging on her front door, which echoed throughout the two-story house and frightening Tyler even more as he laid in darkness.

Upon reaching the home phone, the panicking cheetah picked up the receiver and dialed the police, but quickly noticed the phone wasn't working; it was as if someone had cut the landline. She shrieked at the sound of the front door being kicked down, pieces of shattered glass flew all over the floor as the kicked in door made impact with the ground causing the transparent glass window to shatter into a million pieces before two cylindrical canisters were rolled inside the house, which began releasing a whitish colored smoke that burned the panicking cheetah's throat and eyes, but despite these extremely painful sensations, she rushed through the blinding cloud and up the stairs.

"Tyler!" She coughed. "TYLER!" She yelled once more, before coughing violently. Her vision was blurry and the darkness wasn't helping her cause, but she was determined to find her kin. She entered what she thought was his room, but Tyler's bed was empty and the little cub was no where to be found and it was at this time when she was able to hear sobbing coming from somewhere in the room and by using her hearing managed to follow the the cry and locate her frightened and sobbing son, who was hiding inside his closet. She opened the closet door and rushed to Tyler's side hugging him tightly, as he sat on the closet floor.

"M-Mom, I-I'm scared." Tyler stuttered.

"Me too, sweetheart... Listen, I need to go get my phone from my room so I can call the police." Tyler's mother replied, as she wiped away Tyler's tears with her palm.

Tyler stared up the his mother with his beady eyes, "Don't leave me alone."

Tyler's mother grasped onto her weeping son's shoulders and stared back down at his eyes, "Tyler, I need you to be strong just like daddy. Can you do that for me?" She asked. Tyler simply nodded his head in response. "Okay, I need you to hide here in your closet and keep as quiet as possible while I go get my phone."

"Will you be back?" Tyler asked.

Tyler's mother smiled and hugged her little cub once more, "I'll be back, I promise." She whispered into his round ear, before standing up and leaving the little cub alone in his dark lonely closet. She hated to doing this, but she knew it was the only way to keep him safe and out of danger. She quietly proceeded to leave Tyler's room and make her way to her own bedroom, which was just across from his. Unfortunately, as she was about to step out of Tyler's room, she saw a dark dressed mammal walking up the stairs leading into her floor. Fortunately, for her the figure never saw her and made his/her way to a closed door on her bedroom's side of the hallway. She briefly peeked her head around the door and saw that the figure was facing the door and visibly had a long cat like tail and had a seemingly unnatural breathing almost as if the mysterious figure was wearing a mask of some sort, she also noted that he/she was holding a red laser sighted taser.

The dark dressed figure reached the doorknob, while keeping the taser firmly gripped with their other paw, and twisted it, pushing it open and entering with heavy footsteps. The female cheetah took the opportunity to quickly rush into her bedroom and quietly close and lock the door behind her. She rushed to her nightstand and quickly picked up her smartphone dialing "911" and waited impatiently for a dispatcher to answer.

Heavy footsteps approached the locked door leading into the female cheetah's bedroom, which seemed to catch her attention as her round ears perked to the sound. The began to shake as the mammal behind the door tried to open it.

"Shit!" The female cheetah swore loudly.

 **"One of the targets has been located on the second floor."** A muffled male's voice came from behind the locked door.

After what seemed like a eternity, a police dispatcher had finally picked up, _"911, what is your emergency?_ "

"I NEED A POLICE OFFICER AT MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW!" The female cheetah yelled into her smartphone, as the door to her room shook violently.

 _"Ma'am, I need you to calm down and please explain to me what your emergency is."_ The dispatcher responded.

"No goddammit! Mammals broke into my house and they're outside my bedroom door!" She yelled.

 _"Alright, Ma'am, Im going to suggest that you barricade yourself inside your room and hide"_

"O-Okay." She replied, as she placed her smartphone on speaker and placed herself behind a wooden dresser and struggled to move it in front of her door.

 _"Are you still with me, Ma'am?"_ The dispatcher asked.

"Yes," She grunted, managing to move the heavy dresser an inch closer to her door.

 _"Alright, I have dispatched officers to your location, they'll be there in a few minutes."_

"Oh my god thank you!" She replied with a sigh of relief followed by another loud pound that sent one of the metal hinges flying off the door. The cheetah noticed this and abandoned all hope of moving the dresser in time, so she decided to open up a window located inside her room and quickly dropped down next her bed and crawl underneath. She hoped whoever was outside her door would think she jumped from her window and somehow miraculously survived the drop and ran off for help.

 ***CRASH***

With one final well placed kick to the cheetah's bedroom door the sound of final hinge snapped due to the sheer force followed by the door falling flat onto the ground with a heavy black boot standing over it.

The female cheetah quietly watched the unknown mammal pace around her room, investigateing every single inch it, with the sheer sound of the mammal's masked breathing sent chills down her spine, until finally the mammal came before the open window. There was a moment of silence, as the mammal investigated the window and possibly checking if anyone was down below.

The mysterious mammal let out an annoyed sigh. **"One of the targets appears to have leaped from a window located on the second floor and is nowhere in site, over."** The mammal said into possibly a Walkie-Talkie.

A staticky "beep" came in response before a voice started speaking. **_"Roger, continue your search for the prime target, over."_** Once the voice ended it's sentence a "boop" was heard.

 **"Roger, continuing my search, out."**

" _Prime target?_ " The female cheetah questioned mentally, as the mammal's feet turned to leave.

" _Hello? Ma'am are you still with me?_ "

The female cheetah felt her heart skip a beat as the dispatcher's voice spoke out on speaker.

The unknown mammal stopped dead in his tracks and turned towards her bed.

" _Ma'am, officers are a minute away from your location. Are you still alright?"_ The dispatcher questioned loudly, as the female cheetah desperately scrambled for her smartphone, but her efforts were to no avail; her presence was now known to the mammal.

The bed was abruptly flipped over exposing the helpless cheetah cowering underneath. She helplessly surrendered her paws up to the mammal, as he aimed his stun gun down upon her.

 **"Hello, gorgeous!"** The mammal sneered, before reaching down and grabbing her by the collar, while he held the taser to her back. **"Stand the hell up."** He said, as he painfully tugged up on her collar.

"No, please!" She begged, as she unwillingly stood up.

 **"Where's the phone?"** The mammal asked in his masked voice.

"Don't hurt m- AHH!" The female cheetah yelled, as she was forcefully thrusted towards the ground, as the male mammal turned back to locate her smartphone, which he soon found it to be laying in the same place her had found the female cheetah hiding. He picked it up and threw it against a wall with the sheer force of a Major League Baseball pitcher and once the phone had shattered into a million pieces the mammal once again approached and reached down to grasp onto the female cheetah with his black gloved paws. The female cheetah had actually managed to crawl her way out into the hallway, before ending up back in the mammal's painful grasp.

 **"You're quite the slippery one, aren't you?"** The mammal said, as he brought the now sobbing cheetah up to her feet. The mammal holstered his stun gun and reached for a radio receiver located over his right shoulder. "Secondary target has been subdued." He said into the radio receiver.

 ** _"Copy that, regroup in the living room, over."_**

 **"Roger that, heading down, out."** The mammal now lead the frightened cheetah through the darkness of the house and upon reaching the living room, she was greeted by another darkly dressed mammal, she was thrown before that mammal by her captor, she looked up and noticed that mysterious mammal was kneeling down before her. She was able to somewhat identify the mammal kneeling before her with what little moonlight was seeping through numerous window shades to be a male white-eared wolf, who also appeared to be wearing black military styled clothing that included black body armor, black protective pads, black helmet, which had white wolf's ears protruding from, and a black long snouted gas mask that had dark tinted visors that made it practically impossible for her to get a clear image of her captor's eyes, but what had really creeped her out was the fact that this white-eared wolf had a white wolf skull painted over his gas mask.

The white-eared wolf chuckled and ran his gloved paw up her jaw, "You're prettier up close." He said in a Russian accent, which prompted a quick recoil of her head to get his paws off her.

"Keep your filthy paws off me." She growled. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" She demanded.

The wolf scoffed, "Well, who we are isn't important, but what is important to you is your child's safety," He smirked underneath his dark mask. "Unless you value your life more than his."

"You son of a bit-" The female cheetah had her snout held shut by the wolf in front of her, as he leaned ever so slightly in towards her.

"Look, it's either we leave with both you and your son Tyler, or we leave with him and a body bag fit for an adult female cheetah, because with that option I can assure you that at the end of this ordeal he'll end up an orphan." He slowly released his gasp around the cheetah's snout. "So, what it going to be Allison?"

"How do you know my name? How do you know my son's?" She questioned, being visibly baffled by the wolf's knowledge of her and her son's names, which the wolf ignored.

"Where is he?" The he asked, this time growing slightly aggressive. "Either you tell me now, or I'll start making you."

The female cheetah dropped her head and sobbed quietly, she would do anything to protect her son even if it meant taking a bullet for him, but she knew they'd eventually find him and she wasn't quite fond with the agonizing thought of him growing up without a mother.

"Humph, I hoped it didn't have to come to this, but my patience has run out." The wolf stood up and made a signal towards the mammal responsible for her capture and after a few seconds, she felt her muscles suddenly contract, as she hit the ground in a stiffened state; 50,000 volts of electricity were suddenly rushed into her body without any warning.

"AHHHH!" The cheetah cried, as the still unknown figure behind her held down the trigger to a taser.

"Don't stop unless she talks, I don't care if it kills her." The white-eared wolf said sadistically.

 **"With absolute pleasure, sir."** The masked voice of the mammal behind the cheetah replied, as he mercilessly tasered her to death.

When all hope had seemed lost for the female cheetah, she prayed for her son's safety and for there to be another way, but unknown to her and her strange captors there stood just a few feet behind them a confident posed cheetah cub with a stuffed animal held tightly in his right paw.

"LEAVE MY MOMMY ALONE!" Tyler roared with all the might his tiny body could provide him with.

The mammal tasering the female cheetah had immediately stopped and a trio of heads had turned to face Tyler.

"Run, Tyler!" The female cheetah desperately cried, before being kicked in the gut by the white-eared wolf.

"I won't leave without you Mom!" Tyler replied to his distressed mother. "Dad wouldn't!"

"Tyler... please."

The white-eared wolf reached for a radio receiver located over his shoulder and silently murmured a command to regroup, before stepping over the weakened female cheetah and patting his colleague on the shoulder. The still unknown mammal turned and began to restrain the female cheetah, while the white eared wolf passed him up to face the young cub straight on.

"Hello, Tyler." The white-eared wolf said softly. "We aren't here to hurt you." He continued saying, as he continued approaching the cub, while he extended his gloved paws towards him; ready to snatch him upon reaching a close enough proximity.

Tyler backed up and bared his teeth menacingly towards the still advancing wolf. "Stay back!" Tyler snarled.

"Look, kid, I don't have time for this." The wolf said.

"I'm warning you!" Tyler replied.

The wolf scoffed, "What do I have to fear from a little cub like you?"

"I'll bite you." Tyler scowled.

The wolf obviously held in a storm of laughter, but kept the cub distracted long enough for two other darkly dressed mammals to quietly enter the room and surrounded the cub.

"Nice one kid, but we really gotta get going." The wolf made a hand signal with one of his paws. Tyler suddenly cried out in surprise, as he felt a painful prick on his neck and almost immediately afterwards fell onto the ground in a limp heap.

"Tyler!" Tyler's mother screamed, before having her head abruptly bagged by the unknown mammal that had captured her.

"Bag the cub." The wolf said to the other new mysterious mammals, as he reached for his radio receiver. "Deathwatch, to Site Alpha. Targets have been bagged, over"

After a long minute of silence an extremely deep accented individual replied over the radio in a menacing tone. _**"Acknowledged Deathwatch, return to base immediately, out."**_

"You heard them, let's get moving." The wolf said, as he approached the cub's unconscious body, kneeling down to pull out a dart attached to the side of his neck, but just as he was gonna kneel back up, his keen sense of hearing picked up the sound of police sirens approaching from the distance. He growled in announce, "I'll take the cub," he turned to face the mammal closet to Tyler's mother. "McCarthy, you take the bitch," he then turned to face the two remaining unknown operatives; one having the silhouette of a female and the other a male. "You two take point."

"Yes, sir!" Both operatives replied in complete unison.

The unknown militarized operatives now added up to four, and they were now visibly seen leaving the residence. Unfortunately for them, two police cruisers arrived on scene and were pulled up in front of the house effectively stopping the operatives dead in their tracks. The flashing lights of the police cars lit up the neighborhood and the white-eared wolf knew it was only a matter of time before they gained too much attention from the locals.

Two blue uniformed officers jumped out of each of cruisers and immediately aimed tasers towards the four operatives. "Freeze!" One officer yelled, "Put your paws in the air right now!" The officers consisted of a males and were a zebra, tiger, a deer, and a light gray wolf with the zebra and the tiger being partners and the wolf and deer being partners with each other.

The operatives stared coldly at the officers, the white-eared wolf was holding the unconscious cub over his shoulder, while the operative known as McCarthy held tightly onto the female cheetah's arm. The other two unknown operatives stood their ground between the police officers and their objective, but with a quick command from the white eared wolf, they immediately reached for a weapon strapped to their backs and brought forward black colored heavily modified M416's that could intimidate even the biggest of ZPD officers.

Sights were trained over the outgunned officers, and with a simple flick of the safety the rifles were ready to draw first bloody and with a grim expression coming form white-eared wolf, he made the "kill" order. Bullets flew out of the rifles in fiery balls of fire that lit up the night and left the poor officers with no chance of escape.

With the operatives precise aiming, they were able to eliminate every officer, or so they thought... blood filled moans came from behind one of the police cruisers. The group of operatives moved forward past the police cruisers and one of the armed operatives trained their rifle over a injured deer, who was leaning against the side of his police cruiser with a bloody hoof over his abdomen. The white-ear wolf lowered the operative's rifle and passed him up until he was standing over the dying officer. He reached for the handle of his sidearm holstered to his thigh with his free paw and aimed the barrel towards the center of the deer's forehead.

"P-please..." The deer pleaded, as he shakily held up hoof to shield his face, as he coughed up blood.

No sense of remorse came from the wolf, as he pulled the trigger that ended the officer's life, but that of satisfaction. "Pathetic" He scorned.

More police sirens approached from the distance and houses lit up, as mammals awoke to all the commotion, yet operatives quickly jogged across the street, until they had come across a parked black SUV that had a matte black steel grille guard, off-road tries, fog lights just above the windshield, and black tint covering every window except the windshield, which had a lighter shade of black.

The two armed operatives entered the vehicle, while the white-eared wolf and the operative known as McCarthy popped the hatchback open. "Let my son go you monsters!" Tyler's mother snarled underneath the bag covering her head, but her snarles were only ignored by the operatives, as she was forced into the hatchback of the SUV. Tyler was also placed in the hatchback and upon having a slimmer of his unconscious body come into contact with his mother, she immediately scrambled in her restraints until she was laying next to him and so desperately tried to wake him up, but her efforts were met to no avail.

Once the remaining operatives entered the vehicle, they immediately drove their way out of the area, since that area would soon be crawling with police.

"Where are you taking us!?" Tyler's mother demanded from the trunk of the SUV.

There was a sort silence, before the white-eared wolf's voice replied. "You'll find out soon enough. I'd suggest you join in on your son's little nap, because this is going to be quite the drive."

"You won't get away with this..." She growled, as she comforted her unconscious cub.


	12. The Beast Unleased

**Heya everyone long time no post! Sorry for the massive and I mean MASSIVE delay, I got caught up working on way more important projects that I got a little sidetracked... This chapter was in the making for a while before I almost forgot about it and to apologize for my delay I made this chapter incredibly long for your enjoyment! Yay ^_^**

* * *

 **-UNKNOWN-**

Red lights. Dim red bloody lights. That's all a dazed restrained male zebra could faintly see, as he fought the restraints that kept him glued to a wooden chair. Heavy breaths blew out from between the zebra's lips, as he suddenly remembered why he was in this seemingly empty space. Although, being bound to a chair in an empty room wasn't what scared him, but the fact of what was to come.

"Good morning, Doctor Swett..." Came a voice from what sounded like an intercom system. "Please restrain from removing your restraints, until armed personnel are advised to do so." Just a few feet in front of the zebra were two armed security guards standing quietly with their expressions cold and grim.

The zebra's breaths became more ponderous by the second as the voice continued to talk, he knew who this was and what they were capable of if left unjustified; it was one of the main reasons he left or escaped in the first place.

"I'm disappointed in you Swett, VERY disappointed."

"I-I didn't tell anyone! I swear!" The zebra quickly replied practically begging for his life at this point.

"You almost compromised my work Swett, and you almost comprised this Corporation," The voice chuckled evilly. "You're nothing more than a little rat with a doctrines degree that deserves nothing else, but an agonizingly slow death."

"Don't do this please!" The zebra desperately pleaded, as he once again fought against his restraints even after being ordered not to.

"You've seen so many pass through here, you've pushed the button countless times and silently watched, yet I bet you never expected to be at the opposite side of the gun barrel." The voice said. "Can you hear them, Swett? Can you hear my children begging for sustenance?"

"I won't do it again!" The zebra pleaded the faint sound of scratching and screeching lingering its way into the zebra's keen ears.

The voice cleared it's throat, "Agents, please proceed to remove Doctor Swett from his restraints and proceed to disable him." The voice ordered nonchalantly as if what he said wasn't of any concern to him.

Almost immediately, both guards converged on the zebra, before uniting his restraints. Once done, the zebra was lifted out of his chair and without any warning, or hesitation one guard unholstered a pistol and unloaded a round into the zebra's kneecap effectively disabling him completely. He cried out in pain, as he dropped to the ground, shakily grasping onto his newly formed gunshot wound, which bled profusely.

"You should have seen this coming, you can't escape from the grasps of this Corporation."

"Shit!" The zebra swore aloud, baring his teeth in absolute pain, with a small puddle of his blood forming underneath him. He felt warm tears flowing from his eyes, as he watched both security agents exit the room. The pain he was experiencing was unbearable, but he knew it would all be over very soon. He was going to expire in the most horrifyingly slow and painful way that no modern day mammal could imagine.

"Initiating controlled release of Apex Predators: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Authorization Code: 1-3-9-9-5-8-7-9."

As the zebra lay wounded on the cold hard floor of his seemingly empty cage, he began to quickly consult to himself. _"All these degrees for nothing!? All these years wasted! Thrown out the goddamn window! No... no it can't end like this, it just can't-"_ A seemingly large metallic door slowly slid open with a hiss coming to a complete stop once it disappeared into the ceiling. Loud skittering could be heard followed by the sound of sniffing and highly aggressive snarls.

The zebra's heart skipped a beat to the sounds of the "beasts" scouring the room on all fours, their lost beings forever forced from their families and friends, with ravaged minds programmed with one newly formed goal... to feed on the inferiors. He clenched his eyelids shut, as his very being trembled in fear; it was all true, he had seen these "Apex Predators" countless times in his career, he had the unfortunate job of disposing of anyone threatening this Corporation. But now, he understood his own stupidity of wanting to expose this vile Corporation for what it really is, and the moment he was captured by those cold-blooded killers, he knew he'd end up here... here on this cold hard floor defeated and with no known hope of survival what so ever.

His breaths grew more shallow when the growls and snarls circled his injured body, but they suddenly dissipated. They had simply vanished, vanished without a trace and this once again left the zebra in complete and utter silence. He kept his eyes held shut but eventually, due to the eerie silence, opened his eyes to investigate, but what was revealed to his frightened eyes was something far more sinister. A lion with a pair of blood thirsty eyes stared viciously back at the zebra, with dilated pupils expressing wicking intentions, while a stream of a glowing purple substance secreted from its eye-sockets. The zebra opened his mouth to scream in horror, but his attempt was met with gurgles, as the lion clamped it's jaw down onto the zebra's jugulars, which was followed by something ripping away at his thigh and something clawing away at his abdomen, which he could feel was tearing through him.

"Feast my children. Do what you were made to do!" Came the voice from the PA system.

All feeling on the zebra's abdomen was lost, as one of the three Apex Predators mauled away at the zebra's innards and another already wasting away on muscle tissue. Tears continued to flow freely from the Zebra's eye-sockets, as his eyes rolled back into his skull due the the immense pain of the lion sinking it's fangs deep into his throat. The lion placed a paw on the zebra's forehead and another on his chest and proceeded to painful push downwards with it's paws, before ending the defenseless zebra's life with one powerful jerk that completely separated the frontal part of the zebra's throat from the rest of his body.

Life quickly faded away from the zebra after that, as the three beasts continued their feast on his still warm corpse, their bone crackling gore filled munches echoed throughout the chamber where more bone chilling howls could be heard in the distant.

 **...**

A brown male husky sat quietly inside a monitoring room filled with scientists of various species, he observed the three "Apex Predators" intently, steepling his fingers up to the tip of his muzzle while he stared through a large colored security monitor, studying the gory scene before him. Although, these predators were identified by the Corporation to be "failed experiments" the husky viewed them differently. He considered them to be more a base for something far more powerful and far more deadlier.

The husky opened up a Malina folder titled "Research Staff" in red ink and flipped through countless sheets of paper that held the information of various researchers, before coming to a stop upon reaching a marked sheet of paper. The husky spread the Malina folder out onto the table before him; he proceeded to draw a thick black line across the eyes of the zebra from a sharpie he had acquired from a chest pocket located on his lab coat.

The picture of the zebra was small and was located on the upper left side of the paper. The husky stamped the sheet of paper with red ink, the word "TERMINATED" now dubbed the zebra's gory fate.

The husky chuckled maniacally, before closing the malina folder; leaving only the title facing upwards towards him, as he went back to watching the crimson filled screen before him. A satisfying smirk escaped the edges of the husky's muzzle, but it quickly faded. He knew these predators could never compare to his greatest creation.

Tanzanite, the true testament of the future of the predator, and yet the only known one in existence is lost in a city dominated by prey. A ticking time bomb in the middle of a crowd ready to go off at any time and anywhere, he is the ultimate killing machine; it was only a matter of time before he snaped and unwillingly revealed himself to the world.

 **-Nick & Judy's Apartment-**

 **-8:30 AM-**

The scenery was beautiful, the city bustling with life, with mammals going about their day without a worry in the world; it's a place Max once never really saw until he met his new-family. He loved that word; the meaning brought warmth to his heart and eased the suffering he'd endured in the past. Although, strangely enough watching all those mammals, all of those prey dominating the streets brought this weird sensation he couldn't quite comprehend; it brought about an itch that couldn't be scratched unless he, NO!

Max snapped the heinous idea that came to mind; he wasn't about to give in to his wishes, he wasn't about to become the monster preying on the inhabitants of the city!

 ** _"Why are you still hiding from who you really are? Embrace the power within, or must I do it myself?"_** Came Max's double's venomous voice.

"You can't make me do this..." Max grunted suddenly dropping to one knee clenching his stomach as a strange wave of immense hunger struck him without warning.

 ** _"Your mind is faltering as we speak, soon there'll be nothing left of your personality, I've won, and it's time you learn first paw what I have in store for this city and the world."_** Max's double explained walking over to his suffering original with his paws hooked behind his back. **_"Maybe you'll enjoy yourself..."_**

"No, I won't do it, you can't make me, and I won't let you!" Max groaned wincing in pain.

 ** _"Who said I was going to make you?"_** Max's double laughed. ** _"You're gonna do it yourself."_**

Max felt his vision go dark and soon found himself in the middle of a busy sidewalk still in the same position as before; he looked around surprised at the sudden change of his environment. The crowded sidewalk he just moments ago watching from a distance was full of prey with very few predators in the mix. Max's stomach ached more than before; he was hungry, no, he was starving.

 ** _"So many preys amongst you; it's a shame how they outnumber the city; perhaps maybe we could change that with a little 'hunting' wouldn't you say?"_**

Max tried his hardest to fight off the temptations, but his already weak mind wasn't resilient enough at this point. He knew what he had to do; he knew what must be done; it was survival of the fittest now, and only the strong survive in the wild.

The starving little pup slowly stood up and, upon first glance locked his sights on an isolated male deer talking on the phone. Max bared his sharp canines and licked his lips in anticipation.

 ** _"Kill"_**

Max charged the deer without hesitation, pouncing him and knocking down onto the ground. The deer flailed helplessly trying to fight off the pup, but despite the deer's larger size, the sheer artificial strength provided by the genetic enhancing serum was unmatched; it rushed through Max's veins igniting a powerful glowing purple flame from his paws.

"OH GOD PLEASE, AHHH-"

Max ripped apart the defenseless deer ending his life quickly by a bite to the jugular and quick, effortless snap of the neck. Then came the time to feed, to enjoy the earnings of a successful hunt.

 ** _"Yes, satisfy your undying hunger, as will I once I take over!"_** Laughed the double from within Max's self-conscious having enjoyed watching his weaker more pathetic original take on the role of a real predator. **_"Perhaps I was wrong about you, too bad I'm still taking your body."_**

Max was too busy consuming the deer to listen in on his double's rambling. He was focused on ripping past fur and skin with his claws, with blood coating his mouth and muzzle as he guzzled down strips of fatty meat.

 _"W-Why am I doing this? Am I enjoying this? No, this is all wrong, I can't be enjoying this, but why can't I stop myself, I feel like I'm looking through an unbreakable window that won't shatter no matter how hard I try to break it. Is he doing this or have I finally become the monster I feared... Judy, Nick, my family."_ Max merely continued feasting as the crowd surrounding him screamed in horror, fleeing the scene but Max wasn't though, he wanted to kill; to kill everyone and everything that dared to move.

And he did just that.

 **-The Awakening- **

Max's body suddenly shot out of bed, his paws clenched onto his head looking as if he was experiencing a painful migraine, but in reality, he was no longer the loving innocent little pup Nick and Judy thought of him to be. Oh no, his time was up. He slowly lowered his now flame riddled paws from his head and into his field of vision for his now glowing eyes to see. A crooked smile spread across Max's muzzle as vicious laughter escaped his lips.

The time of reckoning had finally come! The need for blood has risen, and soon the worthless people of this city would quickly be reminded of what has been forgotten in time. All starting with...

The now devious Max slowly turned to face the red fox sleeping soundly next to him. Unaware of the monster sitting beside him eyeing his exposed neck, Nick wouldn't have to worry about feeling a thing; it'll be quick and easy.

Max slowly twisted his body towards Nick's sleeping heap, placing both paws on either side of the fox's neck preparing for the fatal chomp he'd be delivering to Nick's jugular. Max's salivating maw slowly opened revealing teeth sharpened for maximum damage as any predator's teeth should be but before he could do anything too messy a much more appealing scent caught his attention. "Prey..." Max growled darkly, his glowing purple eyes furrowing as he crawled away from the sleeping fox and off the bed towards the living-room.

 **...**

It was finally another beautiful day out and yet another successful day in keeping Max hidden from not only the authorities but from the big bad Corporation; something Judy took pride in doing despite the dangers of not only her and Nick losing their job, but going to prison or worse death. And yet, she seemed to always come out on top of the situation (as always) she had to do what was best for Max, and that was all the motivation she needed to keep pushing on with her ultimate goal to not only find him a better life but bring justice to the pup.

Judy couldn't help but imagine the pain Max has been through, but despite from what she heard, he seemed to be comfortable around her and especially Nick. She would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous that he was becoming more fond towards Nick but then again; it was probably a boy's thing and wasn't about to dwell on it, she just wanted to start off her morning with a cup of coffee and some couch time in front of the TV while the men of the house were still asleep in her room.

The news was the first channel to pop up the moment Judy turned on the TV via remote, she had planned to switch it but with the **"BREAKING NEWS!"** flashing in red at the bottom right corner of the screen with a bird's eye view of a suburban house was all it took to keep her tuned. Judy turned up the volume to hear the male reporter speaking but not too loud to wake Nick and Max. She was shocked at what she heard.

 _"Yes, we finally got confirmation of multiple police casualties that have taken place at this very house late last night, and I have also gotten word that the Cheif of Police has released confiscated footage from a neighbor depicting the armed assailants."_ The scene of the house changed to a dark recording of four heavily armed individual wearing all black combat hear firing at a small collection of police cruisers leaving them riddles with bullet holes. The mammals depicted then proceed to quickly jog over to a blacked out truck with one holding what seemed like a female cheetah, judging by the long slim tail, with a bag over her head and one carrying a young cheetah cub over his/her arm, who appeared to lag behind the rest. The individual turned to face the camera for a split second but came to a stop looking down upon a figure, possibly a police officer laying with a paw extended towards the armed mammal.

The person holding the camera zoomed in on the mammal carrying the cub and showed as he/she pulled out a weapon and shot the defenseless officer in cold blood before catching up with the rest of the suspects and quickly fleeing the scene leaving a certain bunny in shock.

Judy felt like she wanted to throw up just watching, her paws shook violently barely even grasping onto mug in which they held; she felt both grief and fear just watching the armed mammals at work. The gear they wore, the way they operated, and the way they kidnapped those mammals from their home, she damn well knew who they were the moment she laid eyes on them and it angered her immensely watching her brothers and sisters murdered in cold blood by them.

"The identities of the kidnapped mammals is currently under investigation and will be released upon discovery. Back to you To-" the TV was abruptly shut off by Judy, who let out a deep sigh before setting down her mug on the coffee table directly in front of the couch. She wasn't in the mood to drink her morning coffee anymore, in fact, her entire mood was thrown out the the window and was replaced with mixed emotions. The anger, fear, frustration, grief; it was all too much to bear at once for the poor rabbit, she felt even more nauseous just thinking about it.

" _W-Who in the right mind would kill and take those innocent mammals? Is that what Spark warned me about? Was that the artic wolf sent by Biotect to 'silence' any threat and would come knocking down her door if Max was to be discovered under her possession?"_ Judy couldn't stop thinking to herself; all of this was like nothing she's ever seen before. What if she and Nick responded to that? It's an outcome she didn't even think of imagineing, EVER.

Judy just sighed, she still had a mission to do, and she wasn't about to let her fear and grief takeover. Max still needed their help and she'll be damned if she didn't finish what she started even if it meant her sacrificing her life for his sake. She stood up from her couch and walked over to the large window in the living room facing the city and just stared out into the world as hundreds of thoughts rushed through her mind until something strange overcame the bunny.

Her nose twitched rapidly, and her Ears perked up; the fur on her neck and arms stood straight up, she's never experienced this feeling before. She felt like she was in some sort of danger like this was some sort of sixth sense then just like a movie, she rolled to the side and watched Max slam into the window she was just looking out of, almost shattering it completely.

"MAX? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Judy questioned shocked by the sudden change in behavior in Max that caused him to pounce her from behind with enough force to almost shatter a window.

"Max isn't here anymore..." Max replied in his double's sinister voice, sprinting towards Judy with outstretched claws.

Judy was naturally quick and more than capable of avoiding the savage pup before he could slice through her fragile body with those glowing claws of his. She watched as he skidded into a large vase against the wall knocking it over, destroying it. "MAX, WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!? STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Judy yelled sternly towards the now enraged wolf pup.

"Stop calling me Max! This isn't Max anymore!" Max replied rushing Judy once more this time being mere inches from scratching her.

"Who are you!? What have done to my Max!?" Judy demanded preparing herself for the next attempted strike.

Max let out a low dark laugh and decided to approach the bunny slowly. " _Your_ Max? When was he ever yours? He doesn't belong to anyone, oops my mistake, **I** don't belong to anyone," He explained circling Judy. "And I don't have a name and God save me if I ever had the name 'Max' what a sad and pathetic name for a child. Makes me wonder what would be good name for me."

Judy bared her teeth enraged by the way this different Max badmouth the sweet innocent pup she knew. "You're a monster! A savage beast! Max loved us; he was family."

Max's evil self snapped his fingers. "Yes, that's it! Beast... that sounds perfect." this newly named Beast chuckled licking his lips before pouncing Judy once again but from a much closer range this time having just walked near her mere moments ago.

Judy jumped to side but let out a sudden yelp when she felt her ankle get grasped by Beast and watched in as she slid back against the floor and held up upside down by the evil monster that had taken over her Max. "LET GO OF ME! NICK HELP!" Judy screamed kicking and punching the much more superior pup with little being down to affect him.

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk... What's wrong? Afraid of dying, I see. Just let nature take its course, and I promise it'll be all over very soon." Beast chuckled slamming Judy onto the ground and pinning her fragile body down with a knee before she could run away. "Now, let's have some fun." Beast smirked raising up a paw and lifting up a single sharp claw before aiming it just above her neck.

"Don't do this please..." Judy wheezed having had difficulty breathing since Beast was knee was pushing down against her chest. "Max, I know you're still in there somewhere; please stop this." Judy begged in a final attempt to snap Max back into reality.

"Are you stupid or something? Here isn't Here, he's gone! How many time do I have to say it?" Beast said gasping onto the Judy's forehead to move and expose her fragile little neck more clearly. "You must really be a dumb little bunny."

"Hey! A-hole! Only I get to call her dumb!" Came Nicks voice that brought instant relief to Judy's ears.

"Nick!" Judy yelled looking over to her strong savior having viewed him in a more exaggerated manner due to her situation.

Nick was standing at bedroom entrance holding a lamp over his shoulder as if ready to swing it at the pup. "Get off her or else!" Nick warned giving Beast a treating glare to show he meant business.

Beast let out an intimidating snarl at Nick baring all of his teeth. His eyes glowed at brighter purple as he slowly stood up grabbing ahold of Judy by the neck with his flaming paws that now extended up to his arms. "Or else what? Are you going to hit me with a lamp?" Beast laughed holding up Judy to where her legs dangled, and she was gasping for air.

"Pick on someone your own size or are you too afraid?" Nick mocked Beast with the intentions of distracting him off Judy.

Beast laughed and just as Nick thought, he threw Judy aside entering a stance showing off all his claws to Nick. "Afraid? Who said I was afraid? I crave for this!"

"Well, I'm all here for you buddy." Nick shot back waving the lamp.

Beast charged Nick with bared teeth and extended claws, but Nick stood his ground, and the moment Beast was well within swinging range, he swung the lamp against Beast's head with a loud metallic ***** _ **clang***_ sending the savage pup flying into the wall next to him.

The lamp had bent on a ccompletely different angle the moment it made contact with Beast's skull and was that point useless, so Nick tossed it aside and rushed over to his beloved to see if she was unharmed. "Judy! Are you alright!?" Nick asked looking her over for any serious injuries she may have endured.

"Y-Yeah," Judy replied with a raspy tone rubbing her neck. "Max..."

Nick grabbed Judy by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "Judy listen to me, we gotta get out of here before he gets back up." When she seemed reluctant on leaving he lifted her up bridal style much to her surprise and made for the exit of their apartment.

Judy, on the other hand, opposed the idea of running and fought to convince Nick to stay and help the poor little pup she promised to protect, but her requests were quickly shot down by him much to her dismay.

"I knew this would happen, why did I ever let you drag me into this?" Nick questioned as he continued making his way out of the building with Judy still held in his protective grasp.

"Because you love me! And because you're a good guy! I could've helped him y'know." Judy replied crossing her arms.

"Yeah _could've_ , you almost got yourself eaten by a savage-"

"He's not a savage! He's just confused. That's all." Judy interrupted.

"Judy, I'm not willing to bet on it, your life is more important to me. I love you, and I won't let you die in there." Nick replied.

"Yeah? Then if you really do love, then you'd give me a chance to snap him back to reality."

"Im sorry Judy but no, I won't let you risk your life in there, we're getting out of here and that's that."

 **...**

Beast groaned rubbing his head having not only received a massive blow to the head with a goddamn lamp but he almost literally flew straight through a wall, but all in all, he was unscathed. He was just covered in a little bit of dust. Although, that little show of heroism from the fox was pathetic, he just got a lucky hit on him, in fact, he just dug his own grave the moment he challenged Beast and would soon know real pain and suffering.

Beast sniffed the air, and a scent led out to the front door of the apartment, so he ran over to the window, he almost shattered with his initial pounce on the bunny and kicked out watching the ass fall to the sidewalk below and sure enough, he saw his targets leaving out the apartment Complex's front door. He smirked and jumped from the floor he was on, which was the 5th floor, and land on the ground below fist first destroying the cement around him and indenting the area where he landed.

"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME FOREVER!" Beast roared into the air before going on a full on rage driven dash that would make a cheetah jealous towards the escaping couple. Strangely enough, Beast left behind a continuous stream of purple when ran even when he jumped over obstacles. "I'LL CATCH YOU BOTH SOONER OR LATER!" He laughed evil as if toying with Nick and Judy.

The pedestrian watched with awe and shock as a small cub plowed through and over people and other various objects some even chasing after him with phones drawn to document the whole thing. The streets were also packed with traffic giving Nick an idea of hopefully slowing Beast down if he went running straight through the cars but he was quick to learn that no one can truly run from the Beast.

Beasted laughed at Nick's feeble attempt to slow him down and simply jumped from car to car as he got ever so closer to his fleeing prey with bloody images flashing through his head of himself ripping them apart from both the inside and out.

Nick was at this point desperate for options aiding in helping them escape but of course his options were limited much to his dislike and soon found himself landing dead center of an intersection with cars on all four sides stuck on red lights and the walkways barely navigatable at this point and was forced to come face to face with the monster he'd been running from... Beast.

Beast jumped from one final car before landing a few feat away from Nick, he laughed starring at his cornered prey and found joy in having just foiled any chance of them escaping.

Not like long after the crowd chasing after Beast soon caught up, and we're standing from behind the stoplights video recording the whole scene had never seen such an event such as this unfold ever.

"It appears we've racked up quite an audience here, now the world can see first-paw what awaits it. True power at it's finest." Beast grinned clenching a fist up into the air.

"You don't have to do this-" Nick attempted to plead but was cut short by Beast yelling an early response.

"Yes I do! And you're going first foxy, I'm gonna rip you and your stupid bunny from limb to fucking limb!"

At this point, Judy forced herself out of Nicks protective grasp and stood up to the savage pup even halting Nick in his tracks when he attempted to near her. Her face and tone grew stern; she straightened her posture as she slowly approached Beast.

"Are you giving yourself up to me so quickly? Evolution must've really fucked itself over hasn't it." Beast said watching Judy approaching him.

"Max... Remember when we found you in that alleyway alone and afraid? You told me I'll only see you as a monster?" Judy recalled still approaching Beast.

"W-What are you doing? It isn't going to work-"

"Max, I never saw you as a monster once in my life since I met you, you were a sweet little boy who wouldn't hurt a fly..." Judy continued.

He can't escape no matter how hard you try-"

"I could never understand the pain you went through, but I found it in my heart to risk everything for you including my life, I even lied to the FBI just to make things right and provide you with the love that no one else could give you."

Beast snarled becoming visibly enraged but when he tried to charge Judy he found himself becoming increasingly weaker with the once rich flames emitting from his body growing dim. "No... NO!" Beast howled before using whatever piece of strength he had left to force himself to close whatever distance was left between him and Judy.

Judy stopped dead in her tracks when Beast seized her by her collar and lifted her up into the air with rage driven strength.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID BITCH! BEFORE I KILL YOU!" Beast roared.

"I never told you this Max but you've become family, and I would never want to lose you, I love you, WE love you Max and not even you being a monster could ever change that... please come back to us." Judy finished noticing how the flames covering Beast were diminished entirely by this point and the only thing left of Beast were his glowing eyes, which slowly faded away to their original color.

"Judy!" Nick yelled when Beast lifted her up.

Breast was truly enraged by Judy at this point and roared into the air before slamming her body onto the ground and went in for a swift, deadly chomp as a final effort in achieving the last laugh but Judy instinctively brought up her arm to block causing Beast to clamp down on her arm with teeth penetrating fur and skin sending blood pouring out of her arm.

Judy let out a loud, painful cry that was soon replaced by whimpers coming from Beast as he quickly released her arm from his maw.

"J-Judy?" The pup said sounding more like a horrified Max. "W-What did I do-" The copper taste and smell of fresh blood invaded Max's senses, he gasped in shock when he saw Judy clenching her blood riddled arm holding back the blood. "Judy I didn't mean to-" Max was suddenly shoved back by Nick, who had come to Judy's aid.

"Stay back you!" Nick yelled Max causing in him to flinch in surprise. He was mortified by Nick's hostility towards him, if we weren't already crying He'd be bawling begging for forgiveness, but something told him he was far from that. He was hated and deserved nothing more than to live out the rest of his days far away from the city. He didn't want to hurt anyone else ever again.

Nick was in the process of helping apply pressure Judy's mauled arm, she seemed alright but was a bit shocked at the moment. "Judy, are you okay?" Nick asked inspecting her blood riddled arm.

 _"Max..."_ Judy whispered solftly in a daze.

"What was that?" Nick asked not quite understanding what she said.

"Max!" Judy burst out searching for the pup only to discover he was no longer present; he had seemingly vanished without a trace possibly forever for all she knew, and it worried her deeply more so that her injuries were of little concern to her at the moment. "Where is he, where's Max!?"

"Judy, we need to get you to a hospital, your arm is messed up." Nick said.

"No, not without Max..." Judy replied becoming faint from the loss of blood.

"I'm not concerned about him Carrots, I'm concerned about you and whether or not you don't want to go, I'm taking you." Nick explained picking her once more.

Judy couldn't believe her ears but didn't object to him or him picking her up to take her to get cared for. She had honestly never feared something more tham seeing Max acting the way he did, she was frightened how could a small innocent pup such as him act so vile and so savage? She couldn't quite wrap her head around it at the moment, she just wanted to close her eyes and rest and pretend that all of this was merely a horrible nightmare that would soon come to an end when she awoke.


	13. End of the Line

No one could've predicted it, with every passing minute some mammal out there was possibly getting their intestines ripped out of their body by a deranged pup with supernatural powers given to by the worlds most influential Corporation. Loose test subject or not this reeked a terrible and possibly devastating disaster for Zootopia that would not only expose the mammals responsible for this said disaster but destroy any hope of saving the one victim that would soon be the demise of millions.

Mammals feared for the loose savage pup depicted by numerous posted videos shared on various social media outlets; it was only a matter of time before the attention of the two most feared organizations took notice, but it was a question of who would notice first.

Nick sat silently next to Judy's hospital bed with a palm supporting his slumped head and another resting on her shoulder as he watched her rest. The jig was up; everyone knew their little secret and Nick only prayed the right mammals found them first. If not, he cherished this moment he had with his lifelong companion and lover even if she lay unconscious, but much to his dismay he soon found himself succumbing to fatigue as his eyelids grew heavy before eventually closing on him after a prolonged attempt to keep them open.

Nick, having had a rather long and eventful day, he came to the admittance that a much deserved restful sleep was in order. After what happened with Max turning savage on them and nearly killing Judy in process, he couldn't think of anything that Max could do for his forgiveness after what he did to Judy; he was a lost cause, and Nick just left it at that.

By now daylight had fallen and the night's darkness had once again showered over the glowing city, which emanated softly through a window in Judy's hospital room and over Nick and Judy as they slept soundly until Judy started twisting and turning in her sleep. She appeared to be having a nightmare; one in which Max turned against her followed her becoming shrouded in darkness, while she silently searched for the predator stalking its prey before a pair of glowing purple eyes penetrated the dark saying **_"Max isn't here"_** in a bloodthirsty venous voice before pouncing her.

Judy's eyes suddenly snapped open as she gasped for air, the nightmare having scared her awake and leaving her a quiet semi-dark environment which was her hospital room. Having no recollection of arriving at the hospital, she was a bit on edge at the moment but quickly seeing Nick by her side was enough to calm her down. She examined her right forearm, which not had only taken the vicious chomp from Beast's maw but was in a lightly bloody cast, she frowned wiggling her fingers and flexing her arm with it on wincing when a sharp pain shot up her arm from where her wounds were located ordering her to stop.

" _Oh, Max..._ " Judy sighed uncovering herself so she could get up and use the provided bathroom within the room and possibly wash up a bit. After she finished relieving herself she washed her paws and wet her face by the sink, drying up she went for the door separating the bathroom for her room and stepped out turning off the lights.

A sudden gust of cold wind blew through the room causing Judy to shiver, curious; she went to investigate only to find that the single window in the room was no longer shut but wide open letting in the breeze. She could've sworn the window was closed before she went to the bathroom and Nick was still asleep, so who could've opened it...?

Judy went to close the window after getting hit with another cold breeze finally cutting off the wind from outside, but a quick glance out put her in an awed daze; she could see a good portion of downtown Zootopia from where she stood, it's mesmerizing lights bringing back old memories from when she first arrived at the city. It reminded her of the reason she came, to show that anyone even a bunny like her could do anything and be anything like a cop and make a difference in a city so massive. Although, now it all felt different like that freedom was slowly getting taken away she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Perhaps she was becoming delusional but shook away the feeling and lowered her head with a sigh.

"J-Judy?"

Judy's eye went wide to the calling of her name; she knew that voice that sweet young voice. She quickly turned towards the sound to see Max sitting in the corner with his knees to his chest. Judy had never been so happy and so relieved to see Max that she help but run over to her little pup to comfort him. "Max! Where did you run off to? I thought I lost you forever!" Judy cried hugging the pup tightly.

Max hugged her back even tighter; he felt his eyes become watery which soon followed by tears rolling down his cheeks having missed the only true family he had in this world. "I-I was gonna run away so I wouldn't hurt y-you or anyone else but I couldn't, I'm sorry J-Judy." He sobbed in her shoulder.

Judy rubbed Max's back in a comforting manner, "You didn't have to run away, Max. You don't have to be sorry for anything this wasn't your fault." Judy explained.

Max's sobbing slowly turned into snuffling as he calmed down a bit from crying. "Yes, it is! I can't control myself anymore..."

"Yes you can, you just have to try," Judy said. "you're a sweet pup."

Max gently pulled away from the embrace they were in and held up his paws to her, they smelled of blood and were drenched in it.

Judy was surprised; she didn't even notice the blood, but then again she was too surprised to see Max; it was when she got a good glimpse of his body that she did understand the full extent of his deteriorating condition. Blood covered his muzzle all the way down to his jaw and chest, and a single smeared bloody paw print was pressed around his right eye as if someone attempted to push him away but seemingly failed to do so resulting in a possibly fatal outcome for whomever it was.

"I-I did bad..." Max whimpered wanting to cry again but briefly stopped by Judy hushing to him.

"It's okay; it's okay, there no need for crying. Let's get you washed up." Judy said helping Max up from the floor and leading him to the bathroom to use the shower. She helped him undress from his blood-soaked clothes, which were some of the clothing she and Nick bought him, and toss them in the sink for scrubbing, but upon seeing Max's bare chest, she saw that he had a scar over his heart and couldn't help but run a paw over it curiously. "What happened here, Max?" She questioned.

Max looked down where Judy was touching him and shrugged. "I-I don't know..." He stuttered, he'd had that scar for as long as he could remember, but its origin was still a mystery to him, maybe it was the reason behind his condition. He would probably never know.

Judy sighed making a mental note to do a little more digging into the scar and turned on the shower to begin washing away the blood from Max; she made sure the water was nice and warm for him before she started aiding in rinsing away all the blood stains from his soft fur and scrubbing whatever was left tainting the water draining below in crimson red.

Max wasn't embarrassed at all by the fact that Judy was bathing him or even seeing him naked for that matter; he didn't see it as unusual at all in fact; it all felt normal to him maybe even safe with having her watchful eyes over him making sure he didn't do wrong again by hurting someone.

Once Judy was done rinsing all of the soap off of Max's fur, she checked for any stains still left on his body and once certain his fur was spotless, as it should be, she turned off the shower and left him to grab a clean white towel from a nearby rack to dry him off. Max, on the other hand, followed his natural instincts to shake the water from his fur sending a mini shower of it towards Judy, who used the towel she grabbed to block it getting a laugh from her while Max stood there embarrassed. "I didn't mean to do that, I'm sorry." He quickly apologized blushing sheepishly.

Judy gave Max a heartwarming smile and a pat on the head. "It's alright, but next time give me a warning first, okay?" She said placing the towel over his head making a hood before wrapping it around him like a burrito to completely cover his wet exposed body while she went on her to scrub his close at the sink.

Max had nodded to Judy promising to give her a warning beforehand next time he decided to follow his instincts and hugged the towel wrapped around him as he watched Judy clean his clothes, which he adored greatly just because Nick and Judy bought them for him and thought it would be a shame if they got ruined.

Although Max desired to keep his clothes from getting ruined and hoped that Judy could successfully clean them, she wasn't very sincere when it came to her ability to clean them finding it incredibly difficult to scrub the blood stains away. She was using hand soap for crying out loud, but she wasn't about to dash Max's hopes of her getting them clean and one disappointed pup was the last thing she wanted to see. "I think this is as clean as it's gonna get for now until we get back home." Judy said spreading out Max's shirt out, which still had the stain but was faded. "Now let's get you new clothes..." Judy said leading Max out of the bathroom with him still wrapped like a burrito only to soon realize that Nick may have not thought of packing any clothes whatsoever which left Max in quite the predicament since his only pair of clothes are still soaked.

"Well, it would seem that, um; well, you have no clothes," Judy explained to Max, who was still hugging the towel. "What are we to do?" She thought aloud searching the hospital room in the hope that Nick may have brought some extra clothing even it wasn't Max's. Despite searching everywhere, Judy was disappointed to find that her attempts were all in vain when she came up empty-handed, she faced Max to give him the unfortunate news only to catch him in the process of yawning and rubbing his eyes with the towel providing clear signals that he ready for bed. So instead of telling him, Judy led him over to her hospital bed and helped up onto it before she did the same tucking herself and Max in, she gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead something she has never done except to her siblings and wished good night and sweet dreams.

Max felt himself melt into the bed scooting in closer to Judy for better comfort not letting the fact that he was technically sleeping naked next to Judy with only a towel to cover him up ruin the moment. He has never felt so safe falling asleep next to someone before, maybe in the past with Nick but after the horrors of today he needed this and was glad he came back to them even if Nick may not approve of it, he still loved him with all his heart and would do anything to protect them...

Even if it meant giving his life.

 **...**

Later that morning, Judy awoke to morning's sunshine beaming through the window blanketing her in its rays, but apparently, the sun's rays didn't affect the boys in the room when she found everyone still asleep, _go figure_. Nonetheless, she woke feeling like her usual self, overly confident as always ready to take on the world once again and once Nick woke up they'd leave back home and forget this whole thing happened - but what of Max? Judy had to face the hard fact that Max turning on her wasn't your average Predator becoming feral, or _savage_ as some may call it. This was something far more sinister, she's never heard or seen a savage retain such intelligence, being able to communicate through speech, act on free will, and move with such ferocious agility that no mammal could have.

Judy sighed glancing at the still sleeping pup next to her still wrapped in his bath towel, which reminded her. She rolled out of the hospital bed with a grunt planting her bare feet firmly on the carpet and made her way to the bathroom to see if Max's clothes were dry enough for him to wear. Fortunately, they were, having patted them down with her paws to make sure, but unfortunately faint blood stains still lingered below the collar, or should she say _ketchup stains_. At least they smelled like lemony fresh hand soap.

With the perfect cover-up set in mind, anyone who asked about the stains, Judy would explain that they were merely ketchup stains from the night prior. She smiled to herself as she brought Max's clothes from the bathroom feeling ever so confident in her excuse even if the excuse seemed rather childish.

Not a minute later after Judy finished folding the clothes on the hospital bed, Max began shifting in his sleep indicating he was awakening from his slumber letting out a monstrous yawn baring all of his teeth and rubbing his watery eyes.

"Morning sleepy head," Judy said cheerfully moving to his side.

Max, still half asleep, blinked his eyes as they adjusted to the morning light shining through from outside. He glanced around the room not remembering much from last night except when Judy bathed him. "Judy-" He said softly, rubbing his sore eyes once more as he sat up in bed.

"Your clothes are dry if you'd like to put them back on already," Judy said moving his folded clothes to his side. "I wasn't able to get all of the stains out," Judy frowned. "But when we get back home, I'll get them looking good as new."

Max seemed grateful for her effort nonetheless and took the clothes noticing a strong smell of lemons emitting from them from when Judy scrubbed them down with hand soap. "Thank you, Judy." He smiled hugging the bunny tightly in appreciation.

Judy laughed and patted his head, "You can go change in the bathroom if you prefer having privacy." She suggested, which Max nodded to, before he got up from the bed and went on his way with clothes at paw.

Judy watched him go and when he disappeared into the bathroom, she sighed turning to face Nick, who still slept with a palm supporting his chin, and silently expressed how fortunate she was to have a companion such as him. The only real person who always had faith in what she believed and always willing to help her accomplish those goals no matter the dangers they encountered along the way. Judy wondered if there was anyone Nick couldn't stop.

 _ ***KNOCK* *KNOCK***_

Judy's ears perked to the sound of gentle rapping on the room's front door before a female deer wearing a nurse outfit entered with a tray of food. "Oh good, you're awake Miss Hopps, I brought you breakfast if you're hungry." The female deer smiled warmly, as she set down the tray on the bed.

Although Judy wasn't feeling hungry at the moment, she knew someone else who might be and thanked the nurse for the food returning the same warm smile to her.

"Hows your forearm feeling? Any stinging or burning sensations? And if so, I could run and quickly get you some painkillers if you wish." The nurse asked.

"I'm fine, thank you though," Judy replied rubbing her cast. "But I do have a question, when could I be discharged?"

"That's up to the doctor; your forearm was mauled pretty severely and chances of infection are still prevalent without the right antibiotics." The nurse answered.

Judy nodded her head biting her lower lip; she was hoping they could be on their way once Nick woke up but that seemed out of the question now. "Oh, okay."

"Now, do you have any more questions?"

"No, that's all I think. Thank you." Judy replied.

"My pleasure- oh!" The nurse jumped in surprise when Max accidentally bumped into her on his way out of the bathroom. "My bad little guy." She laughed.

Max seemed embarrassed and apologized quickly himself. "O-Oh, my bad."

The nurse didn't seem to notice the reddish stains covering Max's clothes, fortunately, but did raise an eyebrow when Max looked up her. "Now why do you seem so familiar- _oh shit._ " She gasped.

"Is everything alright?" Judy asked the nurse, who laughed nervously taking a slight step towards the front door.

"N-Nothing at all, Miss. I have to go see the the doctor now..." With that said the nurse left the room closing the door behind her and rushed towards the nearest phone and dialing an unknown number.

Judy was left dumbfounded but shrugged it off and called Max over so he could eat her tray of breakfast, which consisted of eggs, oatmeal, strawberry Jello, and a carton of chocolate milk to top it off.

Max happily obliged and sat next to her once again to eat off the tray the nurse left. He first picked up a plastic spoon provided and gently poked at the jello curious to its strange properties having never seen anything like it, or maybe he has but couldn't find it in himself to remember. "Why is this so... jiggly?" He asked taking a scoop to better observe it.

"Its Jello and its supposed to be jiggly," Judy giggled. "Its sweet, try it."

Max brought it up to his nose and took a sniff noting the lovely scent of strawberries coming from it and brought the spoon to his mouth humming in satisfaction once the Jello touched his tongue. "Its tastes like strawberries!"

"That's because it's strawberry Jello. Now, eat your eggs and oatmeal, you can eat the rest of the Jello once you're done." Judy said, which Max did reluctantly after taking another scoop of Jello. He was really hoping to finish the Jello first.

"Oh my aching back!" Came Nick's voice rather abruptly. "I need'a take a whiz..." Judy watched as Nick lazily got up from his chair stretched and tiredly shuffled towards the bathroom with his eyes half open.

Judy laughed with a paw over her mouth but was surprised when Max lowered his posture and moving to hide his head behind Judy. "Whats wrong, Max?" She asked twisting her body to look at him.

"Nicks mad at me..." Max said into Judy's back muffling it slighty.

"What do you he's mad at you? Why would he ever be mad at- oh." Judy quickly realized why Nick would be angry towards Max, and she couldn't blame him; if she saw him getting mauled by a savage citizen, she'd freak out. Although, he had to understand that this whole situation isn't Max's fault and he had to accept it. "Don't worry; I'll fix this," Judy assured the pup. "Now eat."

For the next few seconds Judy sat waiting for Nick to finish his business, while Max ate breakfast. Nick wasn't one to go against Judy unless absolutely necessary but seeing they weren't in no real danger at the moment, she knew he had no other choice.

"Now that was relieving! So how you feeling Judy-" Nick had just exited with his arms resting over his head when he suddenly came to a screeching halt when his emerald eyes locked with Max's then Judy's and back to Max, which left them all in silence.

Judy decided she'd be the first to break the silence and speak in Max's defense. "Now Nick, I know what happened yesterday was serious and possibly life threatening but that's all a thing of past. That wasn't Max's fault, you gotta understand."

"How'd he get in?" Nick simply replied with a hint of anger in his tone

"Nick-"

"Seriously, how'd he get in?" Nick interrupted.

Judy was unsure of how to answer to Nicks's question. "Through the... window?" Judy answered.

"Alright... First off, we're eight stories high. Second, he tried to kill you. And lastly, we've been exposed, Judy." Nick explained.

"What do you mean exposed?"

"Everyone knows, Judy; it's all over the news, social media, hell it's probably on the newspaper. The city is in fear of him, which means the jig is up, we're criminals, and you know who hunts after criminals like us and I can guarantee you it isn't going to be the ZPD." Nick elaborated.

"You're absolutely right, Mr. Wilde," Everyone turned to towards the front door to see Agent Sparks leaning against the wall with a smirk while his cheetah partner next to him with his paws crossed in front of him both wearing similar clothing that Spark when he last spoke to Judy. "And not only do I smell a huge agency paycheck, but I smell a five year prison sentence. Oh, and you guys aren't criminals," Spark said moving closer to Nick. "You're felons."

"Is that all you bureau jerks care about, money? Have you no justice?" Judy snapped catching the the attention of Sparks who furrowed his brows behind his sunglasses.

"Says the one who not only lied but mislead a federal investigation by sharing false information and holding a vital piece of the evidence, which we'll be taking with us whether you like it or not," Spark retorted glancing at Max, who scurried behind Judy for safety. "Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be, you all caused us enough trouble already." He added pulling out a pair of handcuffs from his duty belt.

"Just do what he says, Judy." Nick said.

"Listen to your boyfriend, Miss Hopps." Spark said motioning for Agent Carter to arrest Nick.

Judy glared at Spark turning her paws into fists; she didn't plan on fighting her way out of this but she knew she had no another choice. That was until third gentleman entered the room wearing a fine black suit and tie with a lapel pin resembling a silver DNA strand encased in a silver atom particle.

"Now what do we have here?" The gentleman said, who happened to be a gray fox a few centimeters taller than Nick. "Bunch of bickering children I presume."

"I'm sorry, sir, but this room in off limits-" Sparks was quickly stopped by the fox laughing.

"Off what? I'm sorry to inform you, Agent Sparks, but neither you or your partner have any authority at the moment." The fox explained moving his paws behind his back as two other mammals, wearing casual clothing, entered the room wielding pistols.

Spark growled and took a defensive stance; he recognized one of the mammals that entered, and he was sure it was said mammal. Arctic wolf, eye patch over right eye, golden eye; it was him, Feliks Novikov. The most wanted criminal in the country. "You're interfering with a federal investigation! And how do you know who I am?""

The suited fox scoffed. "Please, like I'd give two flying shits and to answer your question, we know everything about you. You have something that belongs to us."

"Its them! Don't let them take me!" Max cried when his eyes dawned upon the Arctic wolf who aimed his weapon at Sparks.

Spark had his own pistol holstered to his duty belt but didn't make any sudden movements to retrieve it as he knew this was now a life or death situation. "Who are you guys?" Spark demanded.

"I'm Agent Ayers of the Biotech Special Investigations Division, and these gentlemen," the fox motioned towards Feliks and then the other mammal who was a coyote. "Are two highly trained killers who aren't afraid of killing any of you where you stand." He explained. "And you guys just so happened to end up inside a Biotech owned medical facility."

"What?" Spark said out loud.

"I thought you knew; we own every major Hospital in the city, we SUPPLY these medical centers and YOU all just walked into our grasp," Ayers laughed. "Fortunately for you all, we need every single one of you alive. Besides," He turned to face Agent Carter. "We have something that belongs to him."

Carter appeared confused when Spark spoke out for him. "What are you talking about? And why do you need us alive?"

"Haven't you heard? Agent Carter, we have your wife, and kid and your boy is quite the resistor always threatening that 'daddy' would rescue him." Ayers smirked.

Agent Carter's confused demeanor suddenly changed to extreme rage as he snarled at the gray fox charging him.

The coyote was quick to react to the cheetah's charge, wrapping his arms around his abdomen and tackling him onto the ground pinning him down.

Sparks took initiative of the sudden distraction to charge Feliks, knocking away his weapon and attempting an elbow blow to the head, but his attack was swiftly dodged by the wolf, who in return sent a powerful punch to his gut knocking the wind out of Spark.

"Whats the matter? Out of breath already?" Feliks mocked punching him a second time in the gut causing Spark to fall on one knee.

"No, I'm just getting started." Spark chuckled, as he used all of his force to push Feliks against a counter toppling its various medical contents all over the floor.

While the fighting took place, Ayers causally walked around the rumble dusting off his suit and approached Nick, Judy, and Max, who were attempting to use the ensuing fight to sneak away. Unfortunately for them, they had their plans foiled when Ayers pulled out both a dart gun and a Glock he had holstered underneath his suit. "Where do you all think you're going? We can't have our little experiment running off again," He said aiming the dart gun towards Max. "Say night, night." Before Max could even react the dart fired by Ayers's dart gun struck him dead center in the neck, which caused a overwhelming fatigue that left him falling unconscious in Judy's arms.

"Y-You monster!" Judy blurted.

Ayers shrugged. "I get called a million things every day, sweetheart."

With Spark having regained his composure, he was busy delivering blows to Feliks's face, which seemed to cause minor damage to the resilient wolf and almost appeared to laugh it off like it was nothing. Once Feliks felt like play time was over, he grasped Spark's fist as he went in for another blow and twisted it downwards, elbowing him in back as he fell towards the ground in pain before kneeing him in the muzzle that sent blood flying from his nose and into the air.

"What a disappointment, " Feliks spat, subduing the husky and stripping him of any weapons. "I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

With everything finally under control, Ayers ordered the bagging of everyone except Max, who'd be transported separately from the rest via a special containment vehicle. He didn't answer any more questions from his prisoners; he had to make phone calls announcing his success and to make preparations to accommodate his guests for the short time they'd be staying with the corporation.

Or for the short time, they'd be alive.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'm looking forward to finally bringing this fanfic to a close soon. For those who haven't noticed, I've updated the cover a couple of times, and I feel good about my final choice and I hope you all find it fitting as well.**

 **Thanks for the continued support!**


	14. Belly of the Beast

**Oh lordy, how long has it been since I last posted? I don't even remember! Oh well, hopefully, this incredibly long post would suffice everyone. ^_^**

* * *

 **~Unkown Location~**

When Max awoke, he was thrust back into the place he thought he'd never see again; the whirring machines, the numerous voices, and the stone-cold metal table, which kept him in place as mammals in white stared down at him with emotionless expressions.

"Subject 986 is regaining consciousness, brain activity critically unstable, Doctor." Came a toneless male's voice from behind a monitor. The collection of mammals appeared to make way for a male brown husky who held a clipboard in his paws; light glared off the husky's half-rimless glasses as he stood over the table bound pup.

"We must begin the procedure immediately then," The husky said. "Application of serum NH-79B would be ineffective at this stage of mental instability." He leaned down closer to Max's frightened face, the pigment of his sky blue eyes becoming more evident as he closed the distance. "Hello, 986. Do you remember me? Do you remember where you are?" He asked tilting his head slightly. He took notice to Max's increased rate of breathing and shining eyes that smelled of fear; something he's become too familiar with. Shame, he thought all of those faces, oh so many faces he's witnessed go by, how was he still sane? Or has he already lost it?

"Please l-let me go." Max whimpered softly, his voice becoming more like a sharp dagger that could penetrate hearts and minds.

The Doctor bit his lip and shook his head slowly. "And let the worlds most ingenious creation go? No, we can't have that happen again... Now, shall we begin?" He grinned chuckling darkly, turning around to acquire a syringe full of a clear liquid from a metal tray that laid next to another plate, which held sterilized surgical equipment.

Max shook violently as the doctor menacingly held the pointy tipped end of the syringe high into the air only adding to the poor pup's growing anxiety, he questioned if he deserved any of this; why was this even happening to him? He only ever asked for freedom and sanctuary from the mammals that preyed on him; to live a healthy normal life with the mammals who love him for who he is but instead of living that happy life; here he was lying on a stainless steel surgical table about to get presumably cut open. He didn't want to hurt anyone anymore. The last thing Max saw was the husky leaning back down towards his face and staring into his eyes as he injected him with the liquid.

"I know you just woke up, but I need you to go back to sleep." The Doctor whispered placing a paw gently on Max's head, as he watched him blink several times before evidently shutting his eyes close in fatigue. The Doctor pulled away adjusted both his collar and glasses. "Someone get me scissors." He said, extending a paw over his shoulder until someone placed a pair of metallic scissors on it. He proceeded to lift the bottom part of Max's now lightly blood riddled shirt and snip it off his body and handing it to some other mammal in scrubs to dispose of it. The doctor looked over his creation's bare chest and ran a paw over the scar above Max's heart. Bloody memories flooded his head from that day, the overwhelming sense of accomplishment he felt when he finally found the perfect host. Now all he had to do was perfect the serum for mass production.

And let this Corporation take all the credit?

Take all of the credit – No, he's worked countless years on this! First, it was his Night Howler Serum; then when that whole experiment backfired, they took his cure for fame and fortune. He had no choice in the matter, that ogre Holt wouldn't have any of it, instead treating and locking him up like a savage animal, but now things could be different, he could be the most powerful mammal in existence! And the pup before him could make that all possible; he'd show them who's boss; ALL of them, and he had the perfect plan to do it to ensure no witnesses were left behind to stop him.

"Scalpel..."

The worst possible sensation could be described, as not only getting a black cloth bag placed over your head and having your paws bound behind your back by cuffs but getting told nothing about where your captors were taking you. Spark wasn't one too fond to this kind of special treatment even if he may or may have not done this countless of times to others; it was all done for national security to protect the public from dangerous criminals, but this time it was done by an extremely dangerous organization with both unprecedented amounts of power and money.

A small detail of guards marched the band of prisoners through what seemed like endless hallways; sounds of screams and machines echoed down each hall they passed and went down with only the heavy boots of their captors dominating every other noise. Questions arose amongst the group of the sort of vile things this Corporation conducted in this horrible place of theirs; and the kind of secrets they held within the confines of the walls surrounding them.

With their situation dire, Spark was already in the process of concocting a plan to escape imprisonment but escape at the moment was almost impossible with the probability of unwanted casualties being high. The only thing they could do was play the obedient prisoners, and hope they'd live long enough to get a better chance of escape.

They suddenly came to an abrupt stop followed by a *Beep Boop* and the sound of a door unlocking. Getting pushed forward, they walked a few more feet before coming to another stop. "Alright," A deep Russian accented voice spoke followed by the sound of another door opening. "You guys better not try anything stupid, or you'd be both beaten beyond recognition and shot in your pool of collecting blood," Everyone was separated, wrists bound to metallic clamps far above their heads, and forced down onto their knees before having their cloth bags removed from their heads allowing them to get a glimpse of their surroundings. Except for Sparks, who upon having his bag removed kept his eyes shut. "I hope I'm clear on that." Feliks grinned as he looked down at everyone with his arms crossed and his legs spread slightly apart to assert his authority.

"You're making a big mistake; you'll be put away for a long time!" Spark growled fighting his bounds.

Feliks smirked and approached Sparks, lifting up his paw for a backhand slap, which he swiftly delivered with enough force to send Spark's head flying to the side. Spark moved his head back to face Feliks, followed by him spitting at the wolf's muzzle. Feliks winced to the lob of saliva that was sent flying into his face and slowly wiped it away with a gloved paw. He then knelt down and lifted up Spark's chin with his right index and middle finger. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you," Feliks whispered, close to the husky's ear, before Pulling out a small black tac-light from his pocket. "You know, it's pretty dark in here..." He grabbed Sparks by the forehead, pushed it back, and forced open his eyes with both his thumb and index fingers before flipping on the bright light and shining into each eye. "How about we light things up a little bit."

Judy watched in horror from right beside Sparks as Feliks aimed the flashlight over his head; she gasped and winced as Spark began howling out in distress, thrashing his legs, head, and body like a madman while tugging at his restraints.

"What's the matter huh? Afraid of a little light?!" Feliks mocked, struggling to hold Spark's head in place as he continued to shine the bright light straight into the husky's eyes. "Next time you decide to open your big mouth without my consent one of your buddies is next," Feliks warned flicking away Spark's head as he turned off the light allowing Spark to close his teary eyes and regain his composure. "Oh and I think this belongs to you." Feliks pulled out a pair of dark tinted sunglasses and put them over Spark's closed eyes.

"You - you bastard, I-I can't see..." Spark growled underneath his breath as Feliks got up and proceeded to exit the cell through a metal door with what seemed like glass with circular holes all over it. "H-How do you...?"

"Medical history. We know everything mutt, every," Feliks then glanced at Agent Carter who hung his head and ears low seemingly defeated. "Single. Thing. From the day you were born up until now. It's all in the business." He grinned menacingly. "And remember, I'm not here to babysit, or ensure your overall wellness, in fact, as long as you're all here under my loving care," Feliks clasped his paws together. "It's going to be absolute hell. Oh, and I hope you all have strong bladders." He laughed, turning to leave. "I'll be back soon with a little surprise!" His voice trailing off as the door closed behind him.

"I'm gonna make that son of a bitch pay!" Spark suddenly burst out once he was certain Feliks was gone. He turned to face Judy, his vision slowly coming back to him, "This is all your fault, you know that? If you haven't broken the law and withheld evidence, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"My fault? I was doing the right thing you heartless jerk!" Judy scoffed. "And all you care about is the money so don't even try to justify your intentions."

"Doing the right thing!? You only made things worse, you idiotic rabbi-"

"Hey, that's enough!" Nick yelled from across the room. "It's obvious we did the wrong thing by keeping Max but can we please deal with the matter at paw and discuss this some other time, please!"

"Wait, wait, wait... His name is, Max? What else don't I know yet huh?" Spark snorted shaking his head.

Carter growled catching Sparks attention and nudged his head towards Nick, who was next to him.

"Alright, fine. You're right; we have to find a way out. Just- give me a minute to think." Spark said leaning his head back against the wall.

"Thank you!" Nick sighed, while Judy merely laid back herself and huffed from her corner clearly upset.

A few minutes passed since the shouting match with not a single word dared spoken amongst the four followed by what seemed like hours of waiting without anyone doing anything or anyone getting anywhere but instead sitting in absolute silence.

Judy leaned against her non-injured suspend arm glancing at Spark who had yet to move since the last time he spoke; it almost seemed like he'd fallen asleep maybe. She couldn't tell for sure with all that tint blocking his eyes, but the thought of him doing just that irritated her to the core. "Please don't tell me all this sitting around hasn't killed you already." She growled, convinced that he'd gotten lazy on the job.

Spark purposely took a minute to respond having shifted his gaze towards her. "When did you start caring?" He smirked.

"Oh shove it. Do you have a plan or not?" Judy huffed.

"Let's say I did; we get out of our cell, find MY evidence, and blow this joint but wait... It turns out our two little criminal scumbags decided to make a run for it with my evidence somewhere down the line," He grinned and leaned a little closer to Judy. "You know; It'll do the city well if two criminals didn't go running amok."

"How dare you, I'm not a criminal for doing the right thing, and you can't just leave us here to die!" Judy bore her short flat teeth.

"SHHHH! You're gonna give me away." Spark shushed.

"So you do have a plan then."

"Nah, I was just joking with ya." Spark laughed heartily.

Judy growled rolling her eyes. "This isn't the time for joking around."

"I'm just trying to make light of a bad situation; I'd never in a million years expected a highly funded Corporation to take me, prisoner." Spark sighed. "Not for this long anyway."

"Well, I'd expect someone of your profession would've already busted out by now," Judy said.

"A reasonable observation, but these," Spark tugged on his restraints which appeared to be attached to the wall. "Are electronic shackles with remote locks. Hight quality too, no surprise there."

"So you're telling me that there isn't a slim chance of us escaping?" Judy said.

"Not exactly, but as far as I'm concerned; unless all power was somehow miraculously cut, there's no other way of escaping these shackles." Spark explained.

"I don't see that ever happening though," Judy sighed, frowning slightly. "I just wanted to help him, you know? I thought I could outsmart anyone who came after him but now, I caused more harm than good, this is all my fault."

Spark let out a more meaningful sigh of his own. "Look. It's not your fault," Judy turned her head in surprise. "You did what you thought was right and acted on it with sheer determination to accomplish your goals to help... uh- what was his name?"

"Oh, uh, Max" Judy answered.

"To help Max. It's never the good person's fault; it's the ones who started it." Spark said with a hint of disgust in his finishing words. "But you need to understand that what you saw yesterday shouldn't be allowed to happen again; it's my job to protect the people, and so is yours," Spark said sternly. "Even if it means doing what you believe is wrong for the benefit of others. So don't beat yourself up about it."

Judy nodded her head; she understood what he was saying, and he couldn't have said it better; it's obvious now that his intentions were good and for the benefit of the mammals of Zootopia, and she only hindered his mission in protecting them. Did this make her a bad person for trying to help Max? Was she really the one at fault? No, like Agent Sparks said it wasn't her fault for doing what she believed was right; it's their fault. "I know that it might not mean that much to you after what I've caused, but I'm sorry." Judy apologized.

Spark smirked. "I more than reluctantly accept your apology. And I'm sorry for saying all of those degrading things I said to you." He apologized.

"Well, I accept your apology." Judy rolled her eyes with a smirk in return.

A few more minutes went on without the burning tension in the confined room leaving the prisoners feeling more acquainted and lessened the awkwardness. Although, Judy caught herself staring at Spark's sunglasses wondering what secrets lie underneath; undoubtedly it wasn't just a cosmetic tool for charming, but she remembered his unpleasant reaction to the mentioning.

"I know you're staring at me." Spark suddenly spoke out catching Judy by surprise. "I know I'm good looking, and all, but bunnies aren't exactly my type." He grinned when he took notice of Judy's face flaring up with embarrassment.

"N-No! N-Never in a m-million years!" Judy stammered.

Spark laughed out loud. "Don't worry about it; I'm only busting your stubby tail," He let out a deep sigh once his laughs diminished. "I know what you're looking at; why I always wear sunglasses?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry if I'm offended you... again." Judy replied apologetically.

"Well, yeah you did, but I can't hide from myself forever," He turned his head to face Judy. "I could lose my job over this, I'm extremely hypersensitive to light to the point where I should probably be considered disabled or something," Sparks explained. "Never had it as a pup until recently."

"Oh, that explains why you flipped out at the café." Judy brought up that embarrassing day Spark snapped at her for asking about his sunglasses.

Spark chuckled. "I wouldn't use the words flipped out, I just got defensive. Makes me wonder, I must've gotten the bad genes In my family."

Judy moved her glance over to Carter, who sat leaning against one of his arms as his green eyes wondered off into the grey wall behind her. Spark followed her eyes until they met at the depressed cheetah, frowning at the reduced state of his best friend and partner in crime. It was terrible enough knowing Biotech kidnapped his friend's only kit and would probably use him against them for some diabolical purpose.

"He's – a long story," Spark spoke, knowing all too well what Judy's next question would be. "Hostage situation gone wrong left him bleeding out of his neck with a four-inch-long laceration across it that well, you probably figured it out for yourself."

"Very – interesting," Judy winced at the thought of watching your friend bleeding to death from a sliced throat. "I didn't know you both had it so rough–"

"Rough? Ha! I love my job! I've wished for this since I was a pup, you probably wouldn't understand." Spark explained with a smile.

Judy smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you'd be surprised–" Judy was caught off by the sound of the cell door hissing open that not only turned her head but everyone else's.

"AHH!" Came a female cry as a cheetah in lightly bloodstained clothes got tossed onto the floor in the center of the cell.

Carter gasped out when he saw the female cheetah; he immediately knew who she was both by sight and scent and it brought about his worst fears.

"Surprise!" Came Felik's deep accent. "I hope I didn't keep you all waiting long, as you can see, we have something very dear to someone here in this very room, and I'm not afraid to rid that something from that someone unless I get something in return." The arctic wolf explained, closing the distance between himself and the female cheetah. He snatched the her by the ear, which she yelped to, and lifted her up to her feet.

"D-Don't hurt me... please." The female cheetah pleaded, cowering in fear. Feliks grinned, savoring her sad attempts at begging and grabbed her by the chin to move her head towards Carter. "C-Carter?" She choked on her snot.

"Al-lison!" Carter cried out in a painfully hoarse voice that almost made his words sound incomprehensible.

"She wouldn't stop bitching about how you were going to lock me away forever, so I taught her a good long lesson and thought I'd show her what happened to her hero," Feliks laughed evilly tightening his hold on Allison's chin. "And don't get me started on the cub."

"You better not have hurt him you

psychopathic maniac!" Allison managed to say through her gripped jaw. Feliks only laughed at her insults and flicked his paw away from her chin.

"I just beat some sense into that little brat same as you but with less of the kicking and punching," Feliks replied. "And no broken bones – I think."

"You monster!" Allison snarled.

Feliks scoffed leaning his muzzle next to one of her ears. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not the real monster here. There are far more dangerous things lingering about, and you'll be meeting one face-to-face very soon either it be you or your kit." Fellow spoke into her ear releasing her from his grip so she could finally reunite with her husband Carter for whatever time the wolf allowed.

Allison immediately jumped to Carter's side, hugging him and nuzzling his muzzle with loving affection, her brilliant blue eyes locking onto his while she ran a paw down his temple. "Carter–" She sniffled.

"Allison..." Carter heaved. "W-We have to–"

"I know, don't talk anymore sweety, you're hurting yourself." Allison hushed moving a paw to massage Carter's newly strained neck. "Promise me you'll put a stop to these evil mammals, they don't deserve to walk free."

"Okay, times up!" Feliks grabbed Allison by the scruff of her neck. "Now it's my turn to get what I want," He pulled out a knife from a holster around his waist and brought it up to the female cheetah's soft neck. "Agent Sparks, how you respond to the following question will determine the outcome of little miss Allison here with the worst result being well, death."

"Don't you dare hurt my friend's—"

Feliks moved the knife over Allison's shoulder and drove the reflective tip into it, immediately drawing blood from her. She screamed and flailed in his muscular arms as he dove the knife deeper and deeper into her, occasionally twisting and drawing more blood. "You're in no place to make demands, I've done many horrible things in my life; this is no exception, so I suggest you tell me what I want to hear or her suffering will only be prolonged." Feliks explained holding the knife in place.

"Okay, okay! What do you want?!" Spark quickly replied.

Allison was still gasping and trembling in pain with the dagger still lodged into her shoulder until Feliks finally decided to yank it out with a "Yelp" escaping her short muzzle, and sending a string of blood flying down onto Spark's face. Feliks grinned, "Not so tuff now are we? Now, what I want is the password that accesses that FBI's database containing all of the files, police reports, and the names of witnesses pertaining to the investigation into Biotech so that we can properly dispose of any viable evidence and rid ourselves of any loose ends."

"What?! I-I can't! This Corporation must be held accountable for its actions against the species of—"

"Well, you better decide what's more important, your friend's mate or your investigation." Feliks said, running the bloody knife across Allison's cheek merely passing an eye by an inch.

"Don't tell him! I've seen the horrendous acts they've committed; they can't get away with it–" The wolf swiftly shushed Allison with a paw. "Im– not worth– it." She muffled.

"Shut your mouth!" Feliks snapped. "Now what's it going to be? Last chance or she takes her last breath." Feliks was quickly losing patience, which left a snarling Carter trying to escape his bounds, suspense struck fox and bunny, and would-be sweating husky. Spark couldn't just let these guys get away with it. He made an oath to protect and serve the people of the nation and bring Justice to those who posed a serious threat to the mammals living in it. His mind was in shambles in complete and utter chaos! All he needed was time, but it seemed the life of Carter's soul mate hung by a thread that would snap if Spark chose wrong.

Sparks bit his lip in desperation; his mind fighting over right and wrong until finally he, decided on the most ethical of responses. "You want the password? Fine! It's: 1-3-7-G-O-F-U-C-K-Y-O-U-R-S-E-L-F!" He spat.

Feliks chuckled shaking his head before sending his right foot flying into Spark's face, which in result sent his sunglasses tumbling and sliding across the ground towards Judy's feet. "So, not only are you willing to sacrifice your friend's mate's life but antagonize me, the person literally holding the knife to her neck, just to save your little federal investigation? You are either very stupid or very smart." He said putting away his knife. "Nonetheless, you made things a hell of a lot more interesting by not taking the bait, but we can always change that."

That left not only a confused sore cheeked Sparks, but a Carter gasping in relief after it was apparent Feliks wasn't going to kill Allison. "I don't know if I should be flattered by that and what the hell are you talking about?" Spark shrugged off the pain; his eyes naturally closed to block off any light from the room.

"Why would you even care? It's not like you'd even give up the password anyways." Feliks shrugged pulling out a Walkie-Talkie from his utility belt. "I need someone down at Holding Cells C to take the cub to the feeding cage-"

"Feeding what?!" Allison muffled through Feliks's paw interrupting him.

"Shut it!" Feliks tightened his grip around Allison's short muzzle. "And Doctor Krastin has requested a cell be prepared for a C-Class predator specimen, over." He continued before putting away his Walkie-Talkie and calling in two guards that had been standing outside. "Tag the fox and take him to the laboratory for containment," Feliks ordered, which immediately sent Judy into a frenzied state of outrage.

"Hey leave Nick alone! Don't any if you dar lay a paw on him!" Judy screamed, harshly tugging on her restraints as she watched the two guards unlock Nick's shackles with a keycard before they immediately threw him onto the ground once the manacle clicked open. One of the guards dropped down to press a knee against Nick's back to keep him down and from getting up. "Nick!" Judy yelled once more, watching as the guard manhandled her partner without being able to do anything about it.

"Hey, easy!" Nick grunted, fighting against the guard pinning him down's weight. The same guard reached into a blackened bag on his waist and pulled out a yellow ear tag, and a tool that looked like a hole puncher. "What are you doing?! What is that?!" Nick demanded, as his head was held down on its side, while he felt his left ear get held up.

"Hold still will ya; this will only hurt for a second," The Guard said as he clipped the tag onto Nick's ear, which in turn cause a loud, painful yelp to escape Nick's muzzle.

"Congratulations, you're officially the property of the Biotech Corporation." Feliks smirked, "Can't wait to see what they do with you."

"You can't do that to him; he's not property!" Judy yelled, as the guard holding Nick down then slapped a metal muzzle around the fox's snout.

"Get this thing off of me!" Nick growled before getting pulled up to his feet. "Please don't leave this on me," Nick begged, old memories of a young fox crying with a muzzle strapped around his head flashing in and out of his head.

"Take him away," Feliks ordered.

"NICK!" Judy yelled when the guards started to drag Nick forcefully away; her eyes became watery watching as Nick fought to break free but to no avail.

"LET ME GO!" Nick snapped; the last thing Judy heard from Nick as he got dragged away was him calling for her before disappointing beyond the cell door.

"Nick..." Judy sobbed, fearing she may never get to see him again because of her actions.

"Don't worry Hopps; we'll get him back, I promise." Spark reassured Judy.

Feliks laughed, shaking his head. "I wouldn't make promises you can't keep, but I wouldn't worry too much, he'll be in good paws. Now, I hope you all are up for a good show." Feliks grimaced.

Farther within the labyrinth of halls and laboratories rest one of the many holding blocks housing the unfortunate souls that either defied the Corporation both ex and non-employees alike, or innocent mammals held against their will to serve as expendable test subjects. Although, despite the ever-increasing amount of mammals kidnapped by Biotech, a young, frightened Tyler found himself alone in a cell curled up backed against a wall with small amounts of dry blood staining his clothing and fur plus he had a black eye to top it off.

Tyler wasn't one to suffer from separation anxiety at his young age, but it quickly became an apparent problem for the adolescent cheetah, getting forced away from his mom and locked inside a dark, gloomy old cell with the one-eyed wolf in black continuously coming back to punish him; it wasn't very therapeutic if you asked him. He just wanted to see his mom again; the memory of getting pulled away from her tight grip around him came swimming back causing another volley of tears to begin rolling down his soft furry cheeks.

His predicament wasn't one a cub of any age or species should experience; it all felt surreal to Tyler, he reminded himself to stay strong and brave like his mom and dad always told him but would he be alone forever or for that matter ever see his dear parents again. The idea of never seeing his guardians again dominated his thoughts and only brought forth more tears.

The mechanical door to the cell opened, allowing a male prong in black gear and what appeared to be small stubs for antlers to enter. "Alright, kid, time to get up." The guard groaned annoyingly in a way which expressed complete hatred for one's job and since the prong is of prey decent that meant he wasn't as respected as his predator counterparts.

Tyler just sat there with teary gleaming eyes staring up at the guard questioningly.

"Are you deaf? Get up, you little shit!" The guard yelled, lifting Tyler up by the armpit.

"No-No - let go of me!" Tyler fought the guard's grip any way he could; even going as far as attempting to snap at him with his sharp canines to no avail.

"Quit it already; before I decide to shoot you instead, and I'd be doing you a favor." The guard said.

"Let me go!" Tyler demanded once more. The guard sighed at his demand and shook his head, yanking him out of the cell and into the hallways leading towards the cell block's secured entry/exit with little to no effort.

The short travel towards the unknown destination met with constant attempts of futile escapes from the young cheetah cub; he was determined to break free from the prong's grip around his armpit. Although his efforts were, of course, short-lived once they reached a secured door that had two other guards on standby ready to open it as one moved to aim what looked like a weapon of some kind at the reinforced metal door, while the other manually unlocked it.

An acridly pungent odor immediately overwhelmed all of the mammal's nostrils resulting in an almost deafening sensation in their noses. The prong gaged along with Tyler, who with his free paw covered his nose with his shirt.

"Ugh, alright, in you go then." The prong gasped moving the cub, so he was ahead of him.

"No, don't put me in there!" The prong shoved Tyler into yet another dimly lite room and coughed up a storm as he watched the cub land stomach first into an unidentifiable puddle. It reeked of blood, feces, and urine that made Tyler's stomach twist and turn inside him. All the while an amused gray-suited fox watched from a one-way mirror with a special audience sitting bound with front row seats.

The gray fox, Agent Ayers, clasped his paws behind his back as his hazy blue eyes darted from the strange goo drenched cheetah cub to his other cellmate. His ears flicked to the sound of his special guests entering with their armed escorts. He was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but it was apparent the initial attempt at retrieving the passcode to the FBI database was futile. Shame that yet another young potentially fruitful life must get stripped away so aggressively, he thought to himself. And in front of the parents too. And from what Feliks reported, Ayers knew the need to up the level of psychological torment for the captives was necessary if he wanted to retrieve the information he was after and this was the perfect method to do it. A live feeding session.

"Tyler!" Allison screamed while still at Feliks's mercy, when she noticed her little cub in the opposite room. Feliks held her back when you tried to break free in an attempt to save Tyler somehow.

"I hope everyone's comfortable." Ayers clasped his paws together sounding more like the host of a party. "If anyone would like a glass of water or coffee for today's showing please don't be afraid to speak up." He waited for a response but got nothing but burning glares. "No? Anyways, as some of you can see, the pup you once knew is no more; it's a weapon, an ultimate savage, so to say," Ayers turned to face his audience, his gaze meeting Judy. He was fully aware at this point as to why the Corporation had such great difficulty locating the pup; he was genuinely surprised when he discovered it was getting taken care of by a fox and bunny couple. Who would've thought? "One that can be tamed and controlled with the primary purpose of following commands and adhere to primal instincts like surviving. And eating." Ayers grinned his eyes now meeting Carter's. "I can assure you that it wouldn't immediately attack this little cub of yours Carter, no; it'll find it too easy, which brings me to my next point. We're having a bit of difficulty teaching it not to play with its food."

"That isn't Max! He wouldn't do anything to hurt someone even if you forced him to." Judy explained. "He wouldn't hurt a fly and what did you do to Nick?! Where is he?!"

"Thats what you still think?" Ayer laughed to himself. "Tell me, how'd you end up in the hospital, hmm? And your fox friend, I wouldn't know, he could be dead for all I care."

"He's not dead! And that wasn't Max!" Judy retorted.

"Yeah keep telling yourself that, sweetheart." Ayers mocked. "In a few minutes, there'll be little of that cheetah cub left to back take home."

Carter snarled at the fox, baring his sharp cat-like teeth expressing his desire to kill him for locking his only son in a room with a savage.

"You're crazy! He's just a goddamn cub! He doesn't deserve any of this!" Sparks growled fighting against his bounds in a desperate attempt to save his best friend's son, even if his eyes were shut to block out the light in the room that Ayers had purposely brightened just for his amusement.

"All we wanted was the passcode to the FBI database containing the investigation files. All of this could have been prevented, but your unfortunate stubbornness has us at a predicament. So, we must result to a more heinous act to get you talking, and as I mentioned before by the end of that little cub's ordeal, we'll be scraping whatever's left of him off the ground. Now either shut up or watch nature take its course." Ayers shot back.

Tyler peeled himself away from the puddle, with tears already in his eyes. He desperately looked for a way out of the hellhole he was in, but he could only helplessly bang at the door from which he was shoved through to no avail; he dropped down to his knees in desperation and laid his messy forehead on the cold metal door as more of his salty tears rolled down his cheeks. He's never felt so alone in his life; it's terrible enough his dad worked so far away from home and rarely had time to spend with him, but his mom always sought to make him feel happy thus making his loneliness less prominent and bothersome. But now, he wanted to be with his parents more than ever, but instead, here he is, locked in a dark, smelly room; alone. Or was he?

An eerie wave of energy seemingly engulfed Tyler causing the fur on his neck to bristle; he indeed wasn't alone in the room; he slowly turned his head back to see dressed in a black leathery jumpsuit a young pup sitting hugging his knees in the far corner of the room. He naturally felt curious and concerned for his fellow captive; perhaps a tad bit frightened, nonetheless, he hesitantly approached the pup avoiding any of nauseating puddles between them. "H-Hello, are you okay?" Tyler asked still a few feet away.

The pup didn't appear to respond to Tyler's words in any way and merely sat there hugging himself seemingly in great distress.

The cheetah cub tilted his head confused and closed the distance between them. "My name is Tyler. What's yours?" He asked the pup, placing a paw on his leathery shoulder.

The pup flinched at the sudden contact to his shoulder and shot his head up to look at Tyler. "Tyler?" He asked, his purple eyes glistening.

Tyler nodded his head, smiling a bit. "Yes, I'm Tyler. What's your name?" he asked once more.

"My name? I-I'm, uh, I don't remember." The pup answered sheepishly, his tone becoming strangely more collected as the exchange went on.

"What? How do you not now know your name?" Shocked by the young canine pup not knowing his name, Tyler grew curious. Although short-lived when he was suddenly forced to retreat his paw when the canine burst up and embraced the cheetah in a tight grip around his ribs.

"Help me please!" The pup pleaded over Tyler's shoulder, licking his lips. "I'm - scared..." By now the pup's voice changed entirely from worried to malicious sounding.

Tyler, taken aback by the sudden embrace, he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the weirdly named pup assuredly. "Don't be afraid, at least you aren't alone," Tyler assured him, feeling the hug given increased in tightness to the point it that it felt discomforting around his rib cage. "Ow! You're hugging me a little too hard. AH!" Tyler suddenly cried out in pain.

The once thought innocent pup dug his claws deep into Tyler's clothed back drawing blood and clung onto his fleshy muscle deep inside. The whining cheetah cub pushed at the seemingly superior strengthed pup until he was finally able to pry himself free from his grasp, leaving ten open holes on his back. The immense pain sent Tyler onto his side trying to clench his fresh stab wounds.

"O-Oh, I'm didn't mean to– I didn't try to– I'm sorry!" The pup quickly apologized, slowly standing up. "Let me help you." He snarled lightly, his eyes beginning to glow a bright purple as if on queue. "Don't be afraid."

Tyler noticed the pup get back up, and quickly did the same; staggering up to his feet, the pain making him sway a little, and let out a not so menacing growl that let the pup know he wasn't going to go down so easily without some form of resistance.

Ayers laughed from behind the one-way mirror. "Alright look, let's make a deal, I'll stop this right now if you give me what I want," He bargained with a grin. "You have until your buddy's little cub gets his insides ripped out to give me the passcode."

"No goddamit! Don't do this, please!" Sparks begged. "He doesn't have anything to do with this!"

Ayers sighed and shook his head. "Well look at the bright side; if you don't tell me, you won't be able to see him get devoured. Consider it a favor."

"GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" Allison roared, tugging at Feliks wrapped arms.

Tyler bared his sharp carnivorous canines at the wolf pup but intimidating seemed to be of little effect if not useless against his genetically enhanced opponent, who in turn let out a vicious, animalistic snarl at the cheetah cub that outmatched his, which in turn sent shivers down his spine. His instincts told him to run, but running wasn't possible. Not in here.

With confrontation imminent, Tyler felt his veins pump with adrenaline, his primal psych preparing him for the fight of his life. The chances of coming out alive were slim, but it's do or die now; if he wanted to survive, he had to do what was necessary no matter the cost even if it meant sacrificing life and limb.

"Whats this hmm, a cute little cheetah cub standing up to me?" The pup laughed showcasing his sharp resilient claws. "This will be easier than I thought. Maybe I'll have a little fun with you before I make you an appetizer."

"I-I'm not afraid of you," Tyler replied nervously.

The pup scoffed. **"Yes you are, I can see it in your little eyes. And so can your parents."** He grinned.

 **"M-My what? What are you talking about?!"** Tyler demanded.

The pup made a gesture towards the reflective one-way mirror in the cell. **"They're watching, and they know you're already good as dead."**

"You're lying!" Tyler yelled in a pit of rage, charging the pup with balled fists. "YOU'RE LYING!"

The pup grinned, his legs began to emit his signature dark purple flame produced from the mysterious serum pumping through his veins as he waited for the raging cheetah cub to get within close enough proximity. Once he was, he performed a perfectly time front flip over the Tylers head and executed a powerful reverse back kick once his feet were firmly planted back on the ground.

Tyler cried out in pain as he was sent stumbling face first onto the ground. Catching his breath and grunting from the pain still lingering from the blow; he struggled to get back up to his feet and could only helplessly listen as the pup approached him. The pup walked around to Tyler's side and bent down, with glowing fiery arms burning with power, to lift him up from the ground with both his paws before proceeding to spin in a circle, gaining enough momentum to send the cheetah flying into the one-way mirror.

"Ouch, you have to admit that was a good one," Ayers laughed having watched the glass vibrate aggressively once the young cheetah's body smacked against it. He actually found it quite comical the way 986 tossed Tyler and chuckled when he heard struggling behind him as he watched. "My offer is still up by the way," he reminded. "It's only a matter of time before – you know."

Sparks growled, gritting his teeth, his mind once again in a desperate fight between right and wrong. He couldn't give up confidential information to these cold-blooded crooks; it'll go against everything he stands for, but this was his partner's kid.

The pup walked over and grabbed Tyler by his right leg and dragged him to the center of the room where the light within shined brightest.

"S-Stay away!" Tyler yelled pushing himself back away from the approaching pup, who licked his bloody claws as he walked; the savage pup found thrill in watching his prey attempting to crawl away like a wounded animal. Tyler soon came within the pup's grasp and helplessly watched as the sinister canine knelt to grip his fragile neck with his right paw.

 **"Where do you think you're going? There's no running away from this."** The pup laughed darkly, staring deep down into the cub's soul with his brilliant eyes while his muzzle cracked a smirk.

Tyler felt himself freeze in place; his squirms seemingly stopped as he stared wide-eyed back at those hypnotizing purple orbs with trembling fear. He couldn't tell if it was the fear that seemingly paralyzed him in place or the pup's hard gaze, but deep down he knew what was coming; this was a lost fight. With his muscles tensing in anticipation, he waited for the killing blow that would end his young life; he didn't fear death, his father once told him that he once saw what was on the other side. The mammal with the most beautiful face you'd ever seen, his father had told him, the one who extended his arms out and offered his dad a better life and to take away all of his pain. Maybe he'd meet the same person if he died, perhaps he could ask for a second chance; its worked before.

 **"What happened to fighting back, my little appetizer? I was hoping for a little more fun."** The pup mocked, shifting his head until the tip of his nose was but a mere few inches away from the terrified cub's shivering face. **"You're no different from prey. Weak, pathetic, and simple-minded." He chuckled. "Thought I have to admit you aren't as tasty as prey."**

"Please don't hurt me..." Tyler whimpered in a final desperate attempt to save himself from death.

 **"You'll get no pity from me."** The pup snarled baring his teeth and causing Tyler to cower in fear. **"I have only one purpose, and it's rid the world of useless fodder like you..."**

Tyler watched as the pup opened his mouth preparing for a devastating chomp aimed towards his young quivering neck and all he could do was stare down his gullet.

"Looks like time is running out for little Tyler," Ayers said, watching with great intent. "If you're going to tell me the password now, you best do it quickly because once it starts, there's no stopping it."

"I-I can't-" Sparks tried to say before getting interrupted by Ayers.

"Are you seriously going to let a poor innocent cub die because of this? Look; it's only going to get worse after this, I'll personally see to it that everyone you know and love are taken out of the picture if you persist on keeping what I want to yourself. And I'll be starting with every single one of your friends sitting in this room." Ayers explained.

"Just tell him Spark, we'll find another way to take them down. Justice always prevails." Judy said, gaining a scoff from Ayers with her final words.

"There'll be no Justice done here, I can assure you." Ayers, expression grew grim. "You can't tell anyone what happened here unless you're dead – or have no proof."

"Just let my baby go!" Allison suddenly burst out, tearing and snot running down her cheeks and muzzle.

After quick thought and a teeth-gritting choice, he lowered his ears in defeat. "I'll tell you the passcode, but stop that pup before it kills Tyler," Spark said.

Ayers smirked and reached for a button. "Fine, but no lying, because I won't give you a second chance to save little Tyler."

"Just stop him!" Sparks yelled.

Ayers pressed the button before speaking into a microphone. "Disengage, 986," Ayers ordered.

The pup immediately snapped his mouth shut and gave a spine-chilling glare towards the one-way mirror.

"That's a direct order, 986."

The pup growled and stepped off away from Tyler, who immediately backed himself into a corner, his mind still in a state of shock and although he was free from the pup's grasp. That stare he gave him as he stood a few feet away from him spelled for desire; the desire to gut him alive and feast the spoils his body had to offer for a meal. And the longer he stood watching the more it looked like he would snap.

"Now," Ayers straightened his collar, as he turned to face Spark. "It's your turn to give me what I want, Mr. Sparks."


End file.
